>> good evening, everyone.
welcome to tonight's planning and zoning commission meeting. I'd like to call the meeting to order.
it's 7:03 according to my watch.
staff, could you please call the roll so we can establish a quorum?
>> here. >> vice chair richard dunning.
>> here. >> commissioner dan guisinger? >> here. >> commissioner beth kelso?
>> here. >> commissioner david thompson. Commissioner karen vinson.
commissioner paul keenan. Commissioner cynthia blum.
>> here. >> very good. We've established a quorum.
I think because david's not here, then all will be voting this evening, is that correct?
>> excuse me. Just one second. I've got one commissioner cassatly. Thank you.
>> thank you. Sorry about that, michael. Paul will be voting this evening,
is that right? Yes. Thank you. Everyone obviously gets to participate in the questions.
now that we've established a quorum, if anyone would like to speak before the commission,
please submit a green comment card to vernisa, the secretary here.
speakers will have three minutes to express their comments. These are non-agenda topics.
next citizen comments, unrelated to agenda items. The board won't discuss these items this evening,
but any items brought up will be noted by staff or follow up as appropriate.
staff, are there any comment cards from the public or are there any members of the public who would like to speak?
>> no. >> onto the minutes review of the minutes?
we have minutes from june 11th, 2024 meeting? Are there any changes to the meeting minutes?
if not, may I have a motion to approve? >> I'll make a motion to approve.
>> commissioner guisinger, do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> commissioner dunning. All those in favor say aye.
>> aye. >> any opposed? The planning and zoning minutes are approved.
the regular agenda, staff, are there any changes to the agenda?
we'll vote when that item comes up in the order.
the next item would the secretary please swear in the witnesses.
this is for all of the applicants tonight and staff, anyone who will be providing testimony.
this does not include members of the public making comments.
>> please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear on the penalties of perjury that
the testimony you're about to give in this matter is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Thank you.
>> thank you. The next item we have on the agenda is 228 bears club drive-variance application.
do any board members have any ex parte disclosures starting over here, paul?
>> no disclosure. I have no disclosure.
I went by the property and I talked with one of the I guess,
the lead superintendents on the property, talked about it drove around. I also talked with peter on this matter also.
>> thank you. Commissioner cassatly. >> no disclosure. >> commissioner kelso. Commissioner blum.
>> no disclosure. >> great. We'll go ahead and start with the applicant to give their presentation.
>> good evening. My name is misael. I'm a project manager for onshore construction development.
we are representing the home owner this evening.
the request for this variant is to increase a front side wall from four feet as permeed to six feet in height.
that is from finished grade. That's really what we're here for.
>> thank you. Staff. Would you all like to give your presentation?
>> good evening, commissioners, peter meyers, senior planner or staff.
the item for consideration tonight is a variance to section 27-1326 b3 to increase
the front yard perimeter wall height from 4-6 ft. Staff
reviewed the applicant's requests and determined the application does not meet five of the seven criteria.
I briefly go through the reasoning for each of the criteria that have not been met.
criteria 1 states special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land,
structure or building, which is subject to the variance application, and which are not applicable to other land,
structures, or buildings in the same zoning district. This criteria has not been satisfied since other buildings or neighboring properties,
also front the maintenance building, which has a dense 35 foot buffer screen from the residential units.
criteria number 2 states special conditions and circumstances do not result from the actions of the owner.
since there aren't any special conditions and circumstances for criteria number 1,
this criteria is not applicable. Criteria 3 states literal interpretation of the provisions of
these land development regulations would deprive the owners of the rights commonly
enjoyed by other properties in the same zoning district under the terms of these regulations and would cause unnecessary and undue hardship to the owner.
this criteria has not been satisfied since the property is still able to be
developed with a single family home and include a perimeter wall that meets the four foot height in the front yard,
similar to other homes in the same zoning district. In addition, other properties on the street and the two adjacent properties
that are also across the street from the maintenance facility do not have perimeter walls in the front yard.
criteria number 4 states the variance granted is a minimum variance
that will make possible the reasonable use of the land, building or structure.
this criteria has not been satisfied since the property is still able to be developed with
a single family home while meeting all the code requirements and setbacks.
criteria 6 states the granting of the variance will be in harmony with the general intent and purpose of these land development regulations?
this criteria has not been satisfied since granting of the variance will not be in harmony with
the general intent and purpose of section 27-1326,
fences, walls, and hedges. The intent of the regulation is to maintain a residential character
by ensuring site visibility between a home front yards and a budding street.
that's saving man time for your rebuttal. Thank you.
>> thank you. Does the board have any questions for the applicant or the staff?
>> I do have one question. They're allowed to build a four foot wall, but not a six foot wall, is that correct?
only criteria that met of the seven are the two criteria that you mentioned here.
like you, I also made a tour of the surrounding neighborhood and I didn't find any walls like we're talking about.
there was one property that had a wall. Most of the properties that I saw had a hedge or columns in front,
but no wall like we're talking about except with exception of one. That was a years old property.
anything else they had? >> no, I also did a site visit, so that's why.
>> other questions for either the applicant or the staff?
are there any comments from the public? >> no.
>> any comments or deliberation before we entertain a motion?
>> well, I think we have seven criteria here and they've only met two,
and there's been no rebuttal from the applicants portion, so I'd like to make a motion that we turn this motion down.
>> all in favor. >> go ahead.
>> agree. Very good. We have a motion to deny the application and to
incorporate the staff's recommendations as the basis for denial. All those in favor?
>> aye. >> any opposed? None. Item 2
is a self storage facility regulation, and that they had requested to postpone this.
could I have a motion to postpone. Did they give a date?
no. Just an open. >> commissioner guisinger, I'll make a motion to postpone that item on
the agenda to the self storage facility regulation.
>> thank you. Commissioner guisinger, do I have a second? >> I'll second.
>> was that beth? Commissioner kelso seconded. All those in favor?
>> aye. >> any opposed? None. That passes unanimously.
that will be postponed. Next item is flagler's wharf special exception with site plan application.
do any of the board members have any ex parte disclosures?
we'll start on the right this time. Commissioner blum?
>> I have no disclosures. >> thank you. Commissioner kelso.
>> I spoke with staff garrett watson about this.
>> commissioner cassatly. >> I toured the property.
>> commissioner dunning. >> I walked the property tour the property and talked with staff about this matter.
>> I spoke with staff about the matter. >> commissioner guisinger?
>> yeah. I visited the property and also talked with staff. >> thank you. Commissioner vinson.
and commissioner keenan. Thank you.
we'd like to hear from the applicant now.
>> good evening. Before I start. I would like to request about 2-3 minutes max,
additional time, if I could. Not really so much to talk about the site plan, but there are several conditions that we just need to go over.
I'm going to have to talk fast enough as it is. I apologize for that already, but if I may run 2-3 minutes max if that's okay.
>> let's see how things go and if you need it we'll consider it certainly.
>> good evening. For the record, troy holloway with 2gho. We're here on behalf of index realty.
we're bringing back to you tonight the flagler wharf project, which you saw last year.
we're here seeking requests for use by right for a site plan approval to redevelop,
the pre existing 2.95 acre bell's mobile home park with a two-story
2,735 square foot waterfront cafe and a 1,230 square foot of covered outdoor dining,
which is on the first floor and 2,745 square feet of professional office to be located on the second floor.
we're also requesting a special exception to refurbish, reconfigure, and restore the existing 14 slip marina to a 12 slip marina.
you all are very familiar with this project. It's on the northeast corner of alternatea1a and old jupiter beach road.
just a quick history, this was bell's mobile home park. It consists of approximately 31 mobile homes and
a 14 slip marina until index purchased it in 2016,
and at that time, the town had requested that they relocate the residents and clean up the property,
which they did right away. In 2019, they filed an application for a small scale pud for 85-bed alf and marina,
which was recommended for denial. I think they pulled that application at that time.
they did, after that had some initial discussions with the town to possibly rezone to residential,
but the town expressed desire for commercial uses within this corridor.
they began the process of a new project, which we brought in front of you in 20 they started that process in 2021,
which was retail, medical, and professional office, accessory residential,
a cafe, and then renovated marina. Their petition went in front of you this board in november 23,
and received a recommendation for denial. The following month, we met again with the town to discuss alternatives to another plan,
which we are showing you tonight. This plan is very familiar.
some of you have seen this plan. Some of you are new, but the big thing missing here is
the five-story office building with parking, which would be in the future development area at this point.
we still have the two-story building, which would be the cafe on the first floor,
office on the second floor, which will be fronting on the refurbished 12 slip marina.
to the east, we have the vacant r1 zoning property, and this property will be accessed by two egress points.
old jupiter beach road will be an ingress only, and then a1a will be ingress egress.
we will be relocating two trees, a large, 48 inch live oak and 80 inch ficus down to the corner of a1a and old jupiter beach road.
we'll also be removing and relocating the eight foot concrete sidewalk that currently abuts the curb on a1a into the property,
and we'll be screening that with landscaping. Will have a six foot screen wall that will
provide separation from the residential to the commercial. We'll also be providing a 12 foot drainage easement
for the town that will provide storm water, outfall from old jupiter beach road into the river.
this is the outdoor. We have a covered screen and gated outdoor delivery service area on the west side of the restaurant.
this is a blow up of the restaurant, marina building.
the yellow is the proposed covered outdoor dining, which for the most part,
would face onto the marina and face onto the open green and the relocated oak and landscaped area.
this building is pushed up to the 20 foot mark up to the property line.
it's oriented, engaged with a1a, and it does provide for direct pedestrian access
into the covered porch area of the structure. We are providing some historical signage in
pedestrian amenities along a1a along the sidewalk. This is the bio swale that would be provided for
the outfall from old jupiter beach road for the town. About a year or two ago,
this property owner did provide an access easement as well or utility easement here, I'm sorry,
or storm water outfall that took place under
a1a and is taking outfall from old dixie highway across the street from a1a.
again, that's our service area for the restaurant on the west side, and the marina itself.
on the marina we have provided for upland transitional plantings for the complete perimeter of the marina itself along with mangroves as well.
the total site area is 2.95 acres, which includes 0.38 of that is submerged.
does have commercial land use, c2 zoning with that property,
and it is within the center street a1a roa. Max building height for this is 34 feet two for the building proposed.
maximum height for this property is 60 feet, or well below that.
building lot coverage 7.1%, green space 53.2%.
>> seventy parking spaces are required and we are currently providing 84.
this is the architectural elevations. I think the architects did a great job.
it actually has gotten better since the previous submittal. I think the building looks really nice.
some of the details of that are full standing metal seam roof,
wrap around covered porch on the first floor, second floor balconies, a lot of window openings,
decorative tower elements, decorative lighting, rooftop dormers, decorative brackets,
exposed rafter tails, decorative aluminum shutters, and second floor horizontal siding.
this is a south elevation that would be facing the entry drive and the open future development.
the first floor on the right hand side, this is all covered. This will be the covered outdoor dining office upstairs, and then to the left.
that is the enclosed delivery area for the restaurant itself.
these are the two ends of the building itself both of the east and west end,
east end here on the left hand side, that would be the end facing the open green,
the relocated tree, and the marina itself. This would be the covered outdoor dining in that area below.
the one on the right is the west elevation that would be up on and engaging with a1a, facing a1a.
again, both elevations I think they're beautiful. They've done a fantastic job with the relief of
the building. We've got a couple renderings. The first one here is the southeast corner of the building,
facing a parking entry drive here to left and facing the open green on the right again,
this would be all covered outdoor dining. This is the north side of the building,
facing the marina itself. Again, this would be all covered outdoor dining
facing the marina and the second floor above with some balcony. Just want to go through some of the conditions of approval.
we have a few conditions we'd like to discuss. The first one is condition 3)a)I,
where the town is asking us to engage the first floor restaurant with a1a by
providing an outdoor space with an entrance or an equivalent architectural feature,
real windows, door, et cetera. We would just like to eliminate this condition if we can.
we feel we really meet the intent of this condition. There are a lot of design principles and design theories,
we have to meet within this roa. General planning principles.
first one here is provide for the orientation of new buildings and their entrances, windows,
and outdoor spaces such as these features front a1a, which we have done here.
but it also requires that you provide all of your off street parking along the side and rear of the building which we have done,
so it's separated and not visible from a1a. We also have to preserve accentuated enhanced views from
the waterways by prohibiting the location of service areas and dumpsters abutting the waterways,
which we have also done with our plan. It also requires that properties along a1a with direct access to
the waterway shall be developed such that they engage the water, which we have also done as well.
there's a lot of philosophies trying to work together here and we've done the best we can, we think.
the other ones are just really about the site architecture.
I think what we think the staff is looking for. We have taken the building, and we basically flipped it, we mirrored it.
it's the same exact footprint, we just flipped it so that now the main entry is now on a1a.
we still have the covered porch area there, but the entry faces and sits on a1a,
which essentially is the furthest point from 90% of our parking, which is all to the east and to the south basically southeast of the building itself.
this also now centers the delivery area, pretty much centers and on the marina.
it now provides all of our seating for the most part on a1a,
onto the access drive into the property, it really only buts about three of the marina slips itself.
we find that just too close to a six lane divided highway,
and it can be a real safety concern if you have children out there dining.
again, the limited views of the marina to just three slips.
of course, we have that nice green landscape open space,
which would essentially not be viewed at all with this layout.
there are several examples that we did look at. Indiantown road has a similar request in the ioz.
this is one building that was recently put up the self storage building which has architectural features,
pedestrian amenities, entry facing a1a, sorry, indiantown road, but it is not utilized.
it is locked and unused. The office is actually on the south side of the building where the parking is.
same situation with the chip and casewood, and the dunkin donuts as well.
they all have beautiful entry features, pedestrian amenities, but they're just not
utilized because the parking is on the opposite side of the building. Another condition here is 3)a)ii,
redesign the location of the florida historic marker to create a seating area with pedestrian amenities and
provide a view shed to the water so people can visualize the area of historic flagler's wharf.
we would just like to replace the historic marker with a historic sign.
I'm going to talk more about that here in a second. There's several conditions regarding the historic marker.
condition 4)d)v, provide a historic marker adjacent to the sidewalk and
relocate the historic interpreter sign under the property visible to patrons of the restaurant and marina.
we would just like to remove or actually just modify this condition if we could. The owners do agree that they would pay for this historic marker.
they would provide the easement that the town is looking for. They would just like to be able to work with the town and efforts
of the town to apply for all the applications and
the processes through the state and also work with maybe the historic board or somebody from
the town has more historic knowledge than any of us do on that site. We've done haven't done historic markers,
but we've done markers in the past and other properties where we've had assistance from the town in providing the language,
and we have that put on the site.
condition 5)a) revised the parking table on the site plan
and statement of use to include the additional 446 square feet of restaurant use,
which is labeled as covered delivery area. We would like to eliminate this condition as the code does not
require parking for enclosed or partially enclosed restaurant delivery loading service areas.
these areas are typically located at the back of the house, but in this instance, the back of the house is also
our front of the house because there's really no back to this building. Enclosing and screening of this area has always been preferred,
especially if covered from above with no parking required. We really have no choice but to screen this area.
these are some examples of restaurants throughout the town. Some of them enclosed, some of them not.
none of them require parking. Of course, enclosing them is always better than leaving them open.
the most recent was our fisherman's wharf project, which is almost identical to this,
which is completely covered on the top and sides and gated as well.
I know it's almost fully enclosed, but it's not completely.
there is an openings on the west elevation, and also on the south side,
we have a lud gate and openings above the six foot wall, which are all open as well.
then just some minor ones, condition 6)a)I revise the site plan to restrict the size of a vessels.
doctor marina be limited to a length of 32 feet as measured the water line. We would just ask if we could request get that increase just three feet up to 35 feet.
6)c), the 12 boat slips. That is just a repetitive condition.
we're just asking that be removed. It's repetitive of the one above it.
then conditions 8)b), all of these conditions, they all relate to the historic marker.
again, we would just like that to be worded so that we could work with the town in getting this historic marker at that location.
they have no problem paying for it and taking care of the easements and everything else, but we would like to work with the town and get their assistance on that.
environmental benefits and enhancements of the property, south florida water management has permitted and stated that
no adverse water quality impacts are anticipated as a result of the proposed project.
no benthic resources or sea grasses currently exist in the area.
the florida department of state division of historical resources indicates that no significant archaeological or historical resources are recorded in the projects area.
there will be no liver boards allowed, no fueling or fish cleaning facilities will be allowed.
there will be no commercial boats allowed in the marina. They'll be dredging up to four feet of silt and debris from that canal floor.
the plan meets all complaint policies and provides for marina improvements concrete pilings to encourage oyster growth,
provides required shoreline buffer from 100% of the marina along with mangroves.
educational sitage will be provided throughout the marina. Increased flushing also occur through the slight widening.
also with the line that was put into providing
the stormwater outflow from old dixie provides about 41 million gallons of stormwater into that into this canal.
against some more project benefits. Since purchasing the property, again,
they have cleaned up this blighted and dilapidated property.
they provided the town with an easement for the eliminate the storm issues on old dixie,
they're providing the town with another 15 foot easement to alleviate the problems from old jupiter beach road.
we'll be relocating the 48 inch live oak and the nice thing about moving that tree is it's too low
currently and it's at risk of dying because it's so low and it's getting a lot of saltwater intrusion.
we're going to move it and raise it about 4-5 feet. We'll provide safer pedestrian experiences by completely removing the sidewalk
along a1a and moving into the property approximately eight feet and landscaping that.
I provide a buffer for the pedestrians. We'll also be undergrounding the overhead wires along old jupiter beach road.
again, refurbishing the marina.
the other things I don't need to go over. Just in conclusion, palm beach county
has they have determined that the proposed development meets the traffic performance standards.
the marina improvements have current approvals from south florida and army corps of engineers.
we provide numerous environmental enhancements that will benefit both marina and wildlife habitats on the property.
we've cleaned up a very blighted and drug infected and derelict property.
we're requesting no variances as the project meets all special exception and site plan review criteria
is compliant with all zoning codes and complaint requirements. It provides a substantial increase number of taxes.
we exceed the landscape plan and this high quality commercial development was that
a new standard within this court. Thank you.
>> thank you, staff.
>> good evening, commissioner kern, members of the commission.
my name is martin schneider. I'm with the towns planning and zoning department.
as stated, the applications request is a special exception for
the marina and a site plan for a 12 slip private marina restaurant with outdoor seating,
and a second story office. I'm just going to hit on the significant issues.
one was that the staff found the application not compliant with
the town's land development regulations specifically as it relates to the center street,
north alternate a 1a redevelopment overlay area,
also known as roa. The applicant is requesting reduced setbacks,
which can be granted by town council if the general principles of the roa are met for section 27_1759.
the exact wording of these planning principles can be found on page 3_46 of your packet.
the specific principle that it was not met is provide for the orientation of new buildings and their entrances,
windows, and outdoor spaces, such that these features front alternate a1a.
the use area that front alternate a1a, in version that the town saw and reviewed
showed the covered deliver towards alternate a1a.
if that's being flipped like the applicant showed,
we would need to take a look at that to see if it meets the issues that we were trying to address with our conditions and comments.
that was the first that I had seen that alternative where they flipped
the covered area to the middle of the site,
and it looks like it might have actual true entrances on the alternate a1a site.
but if that's the case, we need to look at more detail and see if that does meet our criteria.
staff, based on the version we saw the proposal,
staff did not find that the proposal met the criteria was seeking direction to whether the proposal meets the intent and
regulations of the roa or if the applicant should make revisions to address the roa prior to further public hearing.
staff recommended a condition to address the building orientation and entrance concerns.
the condition may need to be updated to ensure policy direction is met.
also, like I said, there's a new floor plan shown, so we need to take a look at that and we would
need time to look at that to see if that meets our concerns. The other part of the condition was condition
3)a)2 not 3)a)4,
the condition also recommends redesigning the location around the historic marker to open it up more for pedestrians to
enjoy potentially benches and to thin out the landscaping there to
provide views of the water that people can envision what it was like when it was flagler's wharf.
the one of the conditions that we added was about having no vessels larger than 32 feet.
troy has requested 35 feet. I don't know that we've had an opportunity to know
if we'd be willing to accept that three feet increase, but the condition we had was for 32 feet.
regarding the revising the parking table to include the covered delivery area,
the area is roofed. It's under the second floor office space and it's enclosed by four walls and a gate.
therefore, it meets the code definition for gross floor area and should be counted for parking.
when that type of use is enclosed, it gives the restaurant more opportunity to have more space for seating and such inside.
the result of the parking 446 square feet space
would be an additional five parking spaces required. Currently, the site plan has 14 spaces more than required,
so it would just be math on the site data on the site plan to change that.
let's see. I'll let stephanie address if she wants
about troy's request to work with the town as far as the wording on the conditions that dealt with the historic resources.
but again, we were seeing the request just now.
with that, I'll end my sum and seek commission's recommendation and direction on
the proposed site plan special exception in site plan, and I can take any questions.
I'll leave my remaining time for any rebuttal. Stephanie.
>> good evening. Can you hear me? Just making sure. Stephanie thoburn,
I'm the assistant director of planning and zoning. A couple of items that I wanted to address for staff,
related to the redevelopment overlay area, the applicant had stated that there are other applications
that were not required to meet general planning principles.
well, the examples that they showed were on indiantown road and they are not in the center street,
alternate a1a redevelopment overlay area. This is one of the first projects that is under that overlay that has come before you.
we've had a few, but not all of them have been approved in this area.
the roa is a new thing that has occurred that was adopted in 2010, 2009.
I think the summary here is we want time to be able to review what the applicant
saying related to the historic markers and the historic section of the conditions.
it's important this property because there is
so few physical remnants of history left in the town,
physical, like the lighthouse, things that are tangible. There are so many things that are new.
it is so important for us in this new redevelopment areas that we
encompass what is historic and it's celebrated.
one of the things that people should know is when you see a florida historic marker,
and they're mostly in a visible location like from a road,
that when you drive by it, it becomes this opportunity to see and stop.
in this case, you would come back to the restaurant or if you're riding your bike or walking along,
you would want to see what was there. We provided an aerial of the historic fec canal that's been there for over 100 years.
you wouldn't know that that history existed and that this
was the second center of town where flagler's railroad came.
that's the train depot that we have in the sawfish bay park that was located in alternate a1a.
at that time it was close to fec. It's important to have those monuments to get the visuals,
and then to tell the story, which is why we requested an interpretive sign to be located next to the restaurant so
that you could then see pictures and understand the story of
how flagler's railway changed the town,
which is an important aspect in any of these projects that we
look at to ensure authenticity and not forget our past,
that canal has been there for a long time,
which is also why we want to make sure that any artifacts since they're going to be dredging four feet deep,
that we have understood from the neighbor across the way that they found bottles and things like that from the railroad.
we want to make sure that those things are incorporated into the project.
in summary, we need a little bit of time to go over these items,
work through some of the information that the applicant shared.
the front of the building is interior of the subject property.
it's heading south. That's the front of the building. The front of the building should also be to where
the traveling public will be on alternate a1a,
and it should not be just a screened off area where there is covered storage area and then a covered walkway that is along the side.
that's what we're trying to convey. What the applicant showed may not be the only solution,
but we would like to work that out. >> thank you, stephanie. We'll go to
questions from the board for either the applicant or the staff. Commissioner blum, can we start with you?
>> it just seems to me listening to both sides are world apart,
that there is work that you guys need to do together to understand that.
I certainly see what you're saying with the part that fronts a1a and that it does look very nice the way it's done.
certainly you want your parking closer to the front door so resolving that,
I certainly support that. But the historical stuff just seems like there's a bit of a divide yet.
>> the historical part? >> well, in general, in the project.
>> again, we fully agree there should be historic marker there and more seating.
we have no issue with what they're looking for. We're just looking for assistance in the processing of that through the state of
florida and the historic language or whatever they want to put on that sign.
>> but not just that, how the front should look how it faces a1a, that feels like we're in two different places.
>> anything else, commissioner blum? >> that's it. Thank you. >> commissioner kelso.
>> yes. There we go. >> you just have to speak pretty closely to it.
>> actually a couple of marina questions at first.
it's going to be a private marina. There's no public boat access if someone
couldn't bring their boat up to the property and [overlapping] >> no. There will not be any spaces leased to the restaurant.
they'll strictly be leased privately.
>> one thing it seems is we're working right now on approving this plan,
but there are a lot of questions to the town council first. When I look at that, one is,
are they going to accept alternate a1a as the frontage?
two, part of changing the setback from 50-30 feet is part of the roa designation.
the question is, what I'm hearing from the town
is that they want this to be more like a walkable type of thing.
I don't know if that's reasonable on alternate a1a, being a six lane road.
that's quite a bit of traffic. I don't know if I'd want to sit and have dinner sitting on top of that.
but I think these are questions that the town council has to come to us because to sit here and
deliberate a lot of these little itty-bitty things when town council may come back and say,
no, we want the frontage to be on the old jupiter road or because of the roa,
we want this happening. >> steph, perhaps you all could speak to how do you "engage" a1a as the frontage?
what would be different from what they're presenting that
would be within that descriptor of engaging?
>> it doesn't necessarily mean you have to sit on alternate a1a with outdoor seating.
it's more of making sure there's openness,
welcoming, not an outdoor service area that is abutting the street.
there were some other examples that were in the staff report.
it could also include having the office on the ground floor, that entrance facing.
but really, you've got the outdoor loading delivery area that has a covered,
and it looks great. Don't get me wrong. I think the architect did a great job fronting all of
that porch element and all of those decorations on the front elevation.
but the roa is to do more than that. The reason why the roa was adopted was because this was
the downtown of jupiter back in the early '20s,
'30s, when the railroad came. To block that off and to not have that openness and welcomeness that
is part of the canal and what this area was is what we're looking at.
this is the first time we've seen this picture that's up there.
it looks really tight to alternate a1a. I'm not sure if it meets setbacks.
we weren't talking about doing this. We actually were talking about having the oak tree along
alternate a1a so that there's more of an openness towards there.
there's a disconnect with what we've discussed and what you're being shown tonight,
which is why in summary, we'd like the opportunity to work some of it out.
as far as the historic stuff, we're not asking for the applicant to do all the research,
but we'd like them to give their best efforts, but particularly as it relates to permissions for photos and things like that.
that's what we're talking about. >> well, I think there's some good points on both sides,
but I really think the salient point is having the council come back as she's saying,
the roa is something new and where we're trying to get to. I think that direction is very important to really how we direct where it's going,
especially if there's another option out there that maybe staff and the applicant can work out.
>> perhaps we can focus the questions on some specific.
I've got a couple of specific questions, but as you said, it seems like there's a lot of dialogue that has to
happen between the staff and the applicant. >> exactly. That's it.
>> commissioner cassatly. >> thank you. First of all, I commend the staff
and the developer for working back and forth. This is a big change from a five story building back in november,
I think you said of 2023. I think that down the road,
I don't know what we're really going to vote on tonight other than to talk further and give the staff time to study this new version that you gave us with the area flipped.
I would like to express some of my concerns. Little concerned about what the future area is going to be that will be developed,
what your thoughts are on that? >> they're not really sure. We haven't looked at office.
we've also looked at potential for pickle ball and it's called padel courts.
we've done some layouts with that, maybe doing a little a sports club thing with just those play courts out there.
they really aren't sure right now. They don't really have a user for the properties. They just want to get this restaurant,
that's personal for them. They want to get this up and running.
>> if there will not be any boats that will be able to come to the restaurant as a customer.
how much noise do you see coming from that? Because I guess I have three concerns overall.
one is preserving the environment. Second is preserving the history and making sure that's a reminder for everyone.
the third would be the noise for the residents and how that's going to upset them. We've had problems in the past with other structures,
restaurants that have had some lawsuits going back and forth and we'd like to not see that happen.
>> noise from the restaurant itself? >> yeah. >> there's conditions in here that they have to close the outdoor and
cannot be seated outdoor after ten o'clock or seated after 9:00. They have no problem with any of that.
obviously you can sell to anyone down the road, but they're going to be running it themselves.
there's no intentions for this to be any a wild and crazy restaurant.
>> what do you see for the marina specifically in terms of the noise if it's
going to be a permanent boat slips for 35 foot boat you're proposing?
>> max. But again, they're going to be leased to private owners.
in the standards in the industry, everything I've seen, we've done a lot of research on it.
our 10% of the boats are used on a daily basis. That's going to be like two boats a day.
if you go to any marina, even on the weekends, they're never empty. They're always full of boats.
I'm not a boat owner myself, and everybody says boat owners never get to use their boats.
their biggest complaint. There shouldn't be much noise there. >> what about the maintenance of the boats,
and if I'm not mistaken, there's no fixed bridge, they can be rather tall, those boats.
>> the boats, you're not going to get in a boat in there too large itself because of the depth of the water.
it's a dead end so they've got to do a u turn, they've got to spin the boat around across from that canal.
they've also got a marginal dock and a boat that sits there as well. It's going to be self limiting on the size of the boat you
can get in there because you've only got so much north south dimension there to turn your boat in.
>> I would just be concerned about those areas as you both talk back and forth about the environment,
preserving the history and the residence disturbance.
>> thank you. Commissioner dunning. >> thank you. As has been mentioned before,
a very nice design has come a long way since we first sought from the five story to the two story very nicely done.
having a little problem here. Well, I know that we said staff has recommended 32 foot boats,
and you're saying 35 foot. Why the difference? >> well, because we've talked to the marina designers who is iso minger and associates,
and they've told us the limit the max boat that they can get in there and of course,
when these lease out, of course, they lease by the foot. The largest boat that they can get in is what they would like to be able
to put into this marina. Again, it's self limiting. You can't put a 50 foot boat.
you're not going to get to spin around, you're just not going to get it down that canal. >> I hear that staff needs more time to evaluate that proposal, is that correct?
we heard before, noise, there is no outdoor music that's going to be
playing that the neighbors might [overlapping] >> no. I'm sure they'll probably have some minor just atmosphere music, but again,
this is just going to be mostly a lunch cafe, probably early evening and stuff,
but it's not going to be a utk by any means.
>> as far as I don't think there's anyone here from the neighbors, have you heard any complaints or issues?
>> no, we have a couple meetings with the neighbors, and they're all very much in favor of this development.
I've had no complaints. >> back to the historical markings,
you were asking the town work with you on that. Has there been a problem before on that or what? [overlapping]
>> no just a lot to deal with and processing through the state. Again, with the language.
we've done these in the past, not a historical marker. We've done markers for celestial way.
the town worked with us. They gave us the language to put on the markers, that way, we just take the language and put it on there.
it just makes it a lot easier that we're doing exactly what the town wants to see.
stephanie is very knowledgeable about the history of this area,
which there's a lot, but I'm not as knowledgeable.
>> the hardest part for us is to get permissions for photos and we'd also like
some input from the property owner so that
they can be partners in researching the history that goes on with the property that they own.
then we will take that information and we will truth it. We will go to
the loxahatchee river historical society and make sure there isn't any additional things.
but it will definitely be a partnership, but we don't want all of the work to be put on us in order to produce
interpretive signs and in order to do all of the processing and getting all the permissions.
we want a partner in working with it. >> as was mentioned before,
there's a lot of stuff that we still don't know about on here, that staff has to review the boat lengths, and we heard,
as my colleagues mentioned the building orientation, which way it's going to be orientated and how that's going to work out.
and to be honest with you, I don't really don't know how to vote on something with all these things
that are out there that the staff hasn't had a chance to look at. So I'm looking for direction on that.
>> if I could throw it out. We would be happy to sit down, if you did move us forward,
we'd be happy to sit down with staff and try to work through still some of the building,
whether it can be flipped and whether it will work. And we didn't get these conditions until wednesday afternoon before the whole holiday.
we didn't have a lot of time ourselves, so none of us had a lot of time to work on it. And we have looked at some options of flipping it and pushing it back,
but then it didn't engage a1a, so maybe those are the kind of things we can sit down with staff and see what will work for them as well.
>> this is not a criticism. The staff does an outstanding job and everything, but I feel reluctant to try to vote on something
when we haven't heard the town's full feel on this,
how they respond to it. That's pretty much all I have to say.
>> thank you commissioner. Commissioner guisinger. >> just a couple of questions. I understand the difference between the roa,
between town road and center street north alternate a1a.
but a question, the examples the applicant gave along indian town road,
those appear to be real entrances you provide, they're just maybe locked, is that true?
>> correct. Well, they're locked and they're not utilized. They use the south entrance. >> yeah, but still they could be used.
they're just locked doors, I would assume right now, as opposed to what you're proposing right now?
>> no, the storage facility, their office is completely on the opposite side of the building.
>> but that's an entrance that can be opened. >> I don't know. It's totally empty. When you look in the door,
it's just a vacant space. It's not the office, it's a long way up. >> I understand that, but it's a real door.
>> sure. >> okay. >> it can go into something. >> same thing with dunkin' donuts. I think that's a real door. That's a back.
>> yeah, chipotle is their service door. Those are the service entrance. >> I just want to make sure that distinction that they were real not as opposed to faux,
which is I think what we got proposed in front of us today relative to the restaurant.
the windows and doors aren't real; is that correct? >> correct. We couldn't have been real in this lockdown.
>> and I would applaud you. I do like the fact that the traffic has been removed from old jupiter beach road.
now it's just an entrance there, two entrances, and you don't have a lot of exit traffic,
which then crowds that intersection for the people who live back, the residents back behind. Jupiter beach road.
so I do like that changed. Other question. The right page here?
is there any plan? I did not see in your landscape. Are you on landscape the back side of the screen wall, the six foot?
is that just the west side of that? >> only on commercial side [overlapping].
>> commercial side, okay. >> and the rest that just let it grow naturally like it has been,
but it will be maintained to some degree? >> yeah. There's no. It's a vacant property. There's no proposed use for it yet.
that would be landscaped when they come in for it. >> when is construction,
if approved, what's your timeline to start construction?
>> it would probably take them six months, I would guess to get through plans and permitting.
>> is that after the bridge is complete? Us1 bridge.
>> november is when the one lane each way is going to be opened.
so that's the first phase. >> so that'll alleviate some traffic on. >> some but then it's like early 2026 is when they're looking at the completion.
>> the reason why I ask, I'm just worried about once construction starts, maybe in six months, what are your plan ingress and egress to the property?
is it off old jupiter beach road or will be alternate a1a?
I'm trying to limit the traffic on old jupiter beach road. >> sure, the residents would prefer it on a1a.
they'll do it wherever the residents for the town would prefer.
>> let's see if I have all of my questions mr. Dunning asked.
I think a lot. That's all I have. Thank you. >> thank you. Commissioner vinson.
>> questions? >> okay. >> can you hear me? >> not quite.
>> do the advertisement. Can you hear me now? >> yeah. >> I feel like that mostly everybody already asked all the questions I had.
I agree that I feel that I don't know how I can make a vote on this tonight.
I feel like that there needs to be a lot more talking between the town and the proposal to clear things up.
there's a lot of changes presented tonight. Town needs time to have the discussion.
I don't see why the town wouldn't work with you on the historical markers. But again, they just don't want to bear the brunt of it. That's all I have.
>> thank you. Mr. Kirn. >> why not just eliminate all access from south beach road completely?
why not just take it out completely?
>> well, it helps a lot too for service vehicles. They can just come in one way and go out the other way,
otherwise, you've got a one way in one way out. Fire likes to have two entrance points all the time as well.
there's no issue coming in. Their issue on old jupiter beach road is making left hand,
southbound turns on a1 a. There's already an issue with that out there I understand already.
we're not adding to the problem. Coming in, there's no issue at all. The residents have no issue coming in there.
it's they didn't want any more traffic at all onto that road. >> well, there's not an issue coming in unless the outbound is backed up and then
you can't get the inbound into your parking lot and then the inbound gets backed up. That's why I'm asking.
>> I think it gets backed up that far. >> it depends on the time of day.
your marina leases for the boat slips, seasonal?
>> I don't know if they've got the leases made up yet. I'm not sure how they have.
>> what time term are they looking at? >> time frame?
>> annual, seasonal, monthly?
>> as far as lease, would they be one year leases or?
yes, for the marina. They haven't done those yet,
I guess. Possibly annual? >> annual, okay.
>> just a quick question for staff. The roa principles that we're talking about,
I think you mentioned, they were formulated around 2010, which makes them a little dusty at this point.
is it possible that there is some give and take with respect to [overlapping].
>> commissioner kirn, put the mic. >> there is some give and take with respect to those roa requirements.
in other words, in this case, I saw the applicant has made an effort to make an appearance that complies with it
while not literally complying with the roa principles. And frankly, there were some good points made earlier about the fact
that this isn't exactly a pedestrian friendly area
where people are going to walk in off the street. I know that was the concept that they were thinking about in 2010,
but the reality is it is a multi lane highway.
it just doesn't make sense. As a practical matter, you have a parking lot,
know you're going to leave the parking lot, you're going to walk towards the busy street. There's a lot of questions there that just don't make sense to me.
I get the concept when they originally did it, but I don't think it would work today.
>> well, we always strive to do better than the six lane highway.
we're not trying to walk along make alternate a1a pedestrian friendly,
but we're trying to make the front of the building truly face alternate a1a.
and the redevelopment overlay area for
center street and alternate a1a is a strategic priority in which the council has
directed staff to make changes to this roa which we are bringing
changes to the roa to make it mandatory and that those changes we'll be working on,
those coming in the fall and they'll be brought to you sometime like october in the last quarter of this year.
so since the roa was adopted in 2009,
2010, it was a voluntary incentive-based regulation, a guideline.
and now the council is looking at it as, we want more character,
we want to embrace our history, and that's why they've asked staff through the strategic priority to make
this redevelopment overlay area a mandatory regulation versus incentive base.
so I agree with you, not necessarily pedestrian friendly.
I have walked along alternate a1a on several occasions, but usually when the holiday parade is going,
or I'm walking from dune dog to sawfish bay, that thing.
but we're striving to push the sidewalk off of the travel lane, plant,
separate the pedestrian and make it safer so that people do feel
comfortable walking along just like we do on indiantown road.
there are places along indiantown road where we've separated the sidewalk. And if you've ever walked along indiantown road,
those places where we've pushed the sidewalk are significantly different than those where they're right next to it.
there's a lot of things we can do from a design standpoint. And we just want time to come back to you.
>> thank you. Just a couple of quick questions that are pretty germane.
I'm curious, is there a reason you couldn't extend the dining area across the entire back of the building,
back being the marina facing as opposed to just a portion of it and curve it around one of the corners?
>> with the current plan you're talking about? >> yeah. Either plan. Is there a reason you don't take that all the way along the back?
>> first of all, she wants it to be a small cafe. I don't really want seating out there,
but if we put seating out there, that's just more parking. >> my other question is regarding closing hours.
so I know it said you don't see after 9:00, and it closes at 10:00.
I'm wondering as someone who goes out to eat, do you tell people they can't sit there after ten o'clock?
how do you close that area after ten o'clock? >> I think the way it's worded,
if you don't sat anybody after 9:00. So nine o'clock would be the cutoff date to sit someone outside.
if somebody came at 9:15, they have to sit inside.
>> then I guess this is a question for staff. I'm wondering about the parking code with regard to the enclosed service area.
having worked in restaurants for quite a bit, I'm wondering what use could occur in
that covered area that would be different from a non enclosed area that would require parking.
we don't require parking, I guess under the gross floor area for
outdoor enclosed service areas that kept dumpsters in them and stuff like that.
what are we anticipating could occur if this was fully enclosed,
that would create additional parking? >> basically, I mean, it would result in I would expect it will be a storage area.
it would otherwise be stored within the gross floor area if there wasn't a covered protected area.
>> so we're not envisioning this is like an area where they would have the dumpster? >> no. Or the compactor.
>> dumpster's across the dry pile. This is a delivery area.
I know if you look at any place like lucky shucks, they have like an outdoor area and you consistently see racks and delivery items that are
stored there and they're stored there for extended periods of instead of bringing them in the building.
it's just once you start to cover it, that use would become more permanent. We would anticipate.
>> thank you. >> that's all I have. >> sure. >> one question, one response.
so when we talked with the applicant about the outdoor seating,
I think your point is valid, was we were actually looking at how the outdoor seating along
the front could be along the back so that it doesn't increase parking.
so good just point. >> thank you. So I think that finishes up our questions for the applicant or staff.
do we have any comments from the public? >> yes. We have one comment card. If I can have mr. Matt sapowski step to the podium.
state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes?
>> good evening. My name is matt sapowski. I live at 109 old jupiter beach road.
it puts me on the same canal as this property. A couple of things that pop out to me.
main concern or one area of concern, to me, it's a pretty naturally sensitive area.
pretty incredible on that canal. There's manatees. There is a family of otters at one point,
sea turtles and stingrays.
it's a pretty incredible canal in terms of what you see in it as canals go.
so that actually then leads into the way that the canals used right now.
it's a pretty quiet canal. There's probably six or seven boats on that canal,
maybe a few more, but it's relatively quiet. It's a den end canal.
what really happens that I think the city has done a good job of spending a lot of money in this area.
the soil islands that you have placed and developed as picnic areas and beaches.
a lot of people paddle in that area and they come down our canal occasionally.
but it's probably one of the quietest waterways in jupiter, a safe space.
if you're going to paddle with your kids, you're going to go kayaking, number 1, you're not going to have a lot of boat activity.
number 2, the boat activity that you're going to run into is going to be moving very slowly.
even one of the reasons I bought a house in that area, I knew my kids could go.
it's a no way zone area and they could boat safely without any a headache.
you've developed that area so that people can paddle in and around that area,
and if all of a sudden you put a 12 foot marina and a restaurant marina on the water,
it dramatically changes the use of that canal and the impact of all the residents on that canal.
I think you've done a lot of work to try to make it a neat area and I think it is.
all of a sudden, putting a bar restaurant at the end of that canal changes
that plus a 12 slip marina is going to have a pretty major impact as well.
my concerns is that whoever owns the bar restaurant now might not be who owns it in the future.
once it's there, it's there. Once a 12 slip marina goes in, it's there.
it's a 32 foot boat now. Who's going to come in regulate that?
who's going to come and check up and go, okay, wait, now it's a 35 foot boat. That's a 40 foot boat. The reality is is there's not enough waterways in jupiter.
I know that boat storage is a problem. All you got to do is go into the cinquez and you're going to see a whole lot
of boat rental areas, and people are looking for that space.
you just doubled the capacity on that canal. You just doubled the traffic.
I talked to neighbors on that canal. We're not okay with the idea of a bar restaurant or a marina or a 12 slip marina.
I'm not sure that they know that the meeting is going on. I didn't know about it until this morning.
and so as a result, I think that has a profound impact. Putting utk at the end of a residential canal is not something I'm interested in.
it has a profound impact on the values of every home owner on that canal. So that would be my input.
>> thank you.
>> any comments or deliberation before we entertain your motion? I guess we ought to think if we're trying to proceed.
maybe I could get some guidance from john. Did you fill out a card?
>> my name is rodrick nassef, 200 egan fusky,
cross the street from matt down two houses.
yes, this will directly impact us. You guys, one thing they're not commenting on is one that canal is very shallow,
so they're going to have to do a lot of extensive dredging. My other concern is the egress and egress out to the intercoastal.
we as a community have been paying to have that dredged. Now we're going to put a commercial area in there.
plus, as matt alluded to, there's a lot of paddle borders that are around there.
getting from our canal out to the intercoastal,
we run into, I call them gangs of paddle borders.
unless we get a better situated canal to get in and out of that canal,
someone's going to get hurt. Someone's going to get ran over, there's going to be a problem.
when you put another 12 boats, slip marina back there, it's going to be an issue.
the dredging needs to be assessed, a proper canal needs to be assessed,
and how we're going to continue doing that. >> thank you.
>> I have a question. >> go ahead. >> does anybody know prior to them taking down
the mobile home development that was there and they had boat slips there,
what was the boat slip situation then? Was there a size?
how many boat slips were there?
>> when the mobile home park was in, there were smaller boats.
when we looked on the aerials, they weren't large boats.
but also part of it was because of the existing state of the docks.
they weren't brand new. You had smaller boats.
they were 30 footers, less. There was a couple of commercial boats in there;
not charter boats, but fishing boats,
commercial fishermen in there. >> was there any former regulation or guidelines,
and do you know how many slips were there? >> there were 14 slips there at one time.
>> were they normally full? >> we can go back and look at it,
but it was haphazard because of the state of the docks that were there.
a lot of them were side 2, so it varied.
>> so there were no real regulations before? >> we didn't have anything.
we can go back and look to see what we had in terms of permits, but there were regulations,
we just need to take a look at all of that.
>> thank you. >> I just had one suggestion that the commission
consider suspending the application to the next meeting so as to allow
sufficient time for staff and the applicant to get together and hammer something
else that we could rule upon at the next meeting, if that makes sense.
>> I was going to suggest if someone wants to make a motion to postpone the item, you can do that.
>> I'd also like to say, at the august meeting for the town council to
address those three issues that staff brought up, that would they agree to it being front facing?
number 2, would they agree to the fore front comply with the intent of the roa?
then also there was a third thing that was the 10-foot separated transitional up land buffer easement.
in the meantime, while staff is working together, the town council can answer those questions and then we'll really know what we're working with.
>> the town council doesn't get this application until you're done with it.
>> but I expect staff would have informal conversations with town council about that before.
>> no. >> they wouldn't? Okay >> once again, I feel like we don't have enough information.
staff has to evaluate the new proposals that have come up,
and I'm all for postponing. I don't like to kick anything down the road,
and I don't feel like we should have the council deal on things that we should be taking up here.
>> can we make a motion to postpone then? >> yeah. Do we have any other comments before we do that?
>> yes. I also have concern that it was indicated that the neighborhood was in support that there were not problems,
but yet the two people who spoke, one said he just learned about it this morning, I'm not sure when the other gentleman learned about it.
>> yes. We had advertised meetings, two meetings, one for all the residents on old jupiter beach road,
and then we had one for all the residents on egan fusky. We had those meetings and they were advertised and invites were sent to each homeowner.
those meetings did occur. >> has the town engaged in
any solicitation or conversation with the residents in the area?
>> no. >> is that a consideration? >> it was a sign out there.
sign in the meetings are online. >> mr. Chairman, mr. Keenan has twice made a motion to postpone the items,
so if you could get a second. >> I second.
>> consider that. >> the motion is to postpone this item.
>> this motion was to suspend. Do you want to reword that to postpone?
>> suspend, postpone, fine. >> they're the same? I'd look at suspension different from postponement.
>> I think it's really a suspension. We're suspending it. We're holding it off on ruling on it until staff has
had opportunity to discuss it with the applicant. >> in all likelihood, it's going to be brought back at your next meeting,
whether it's suspended or postponed. >> I have a motion by commissioner kirn. Do I have a second?
>> second. >> second from mr. Dunning. All in favor? >> aye.
>> any oppose. Unanimous. Thank you.
on to the next item, jupiter fire rescue department cinquez station,
special exception and site plan application for a two-story fire station.
let's see. Any ex parte disclosures?
let's start commissioner kirn, with you. >> no disclosure of the report.
>> commissioner guisinger? >> I visit both sites, but did not speak with anybody.
>> I spoke with staff about the application. >> I visited the sites,
talked with john, talked with garrett, talked with the chief,
and that's probably pretty much it.
>> I visit the sites multiple times. >> commissioner kelso?
>> commissioner blum? >> I also visited the sites. >> thank you.
>> I'll have to retrace mine and say I did visit both of the sites. [laughter] sorry about that.
>> that's all right. We'll start out with the applicant for their presentation.
>> good evening, mr. Chair, planning and zoning commissioners.
my name is darrel donatto. I'm your fire chief here the town of jupiter.
let's start with why we're here tonight discussing the need for two new fire stations in the town of jupiter.
about two years ago, palm beach county fire rescue came to the town and said that they would be doubling
the cost of fire rescue services for the town residents.
for the last 20 years, residents have paid the actual cost of service.
but the county wanted the town, its residents to pay over twice the actual cost of service or
an additional quarter of a billion dollars in new taxes over the next 10 years,
the same service, same fire stations, same fire trucks, same firefighters, nothing new.
the town council wisely and bravely chose not to do that.
after hiring a consultant in august of 2023,
the council voted to exercise a three-year termination clause for
the services from palm beach county and to start the town of jupiter fire rescue department.
despite numerous attempts, the county has declined to sell, lease,
or contract with the town for the use of the two fire stations that the county owns within the town.
jupiter fire rescue will begin providing full fire and emergency medical services for the town of jupiter on october 1 of 2026.
building a fire station takes time, and that is why we're here tonight seeking approval for two new fire stations.
efficient deployment of fire stations is essential to timely response to emergency calls for service.
location of these fire stations is intentional and significant in our efforts to
align fire rescue resources with the greatest demand and optimized response times.
as we build the jupiter fire rescue department, the safety and protection of our jupiter residents,
businesses, and visitors are our number 1 concern. We have exhaustively studied the placement of fire stations within
jupiter so as to provide the best coverage and response times possible.
based on that focus and centered on providing urgent sometimes lifesaving care,
the research has shown that piatt place and cinquez park are
the best locations for the two fire stations that we're going to discuss tonight.
I want to assure you that what we are proposing
regarding site locations is not out of the ordinary in any way.
in fact, it is quite normal both locally and across our nation.
fire stations are a part of the fabric of communities.
fire stations are most often located in residential areas,
as the greatest risk of fire and most frequent calls for ems are in residential homes.
as part of the study and research that I performed to make the recommendations for cinquez park,
I looked at 64 fire station sites across palm beach county.
these fire stations represented every department within the county from smaller departments such as tequesta,
to the largest department, palm beach county fire rescue. Of the 64 fire stations I looked at,
23 of them or more than a third are located as close or closer to residential homes than we are proposing.
those 23 stations represented 11 different fire rescue departments, again,
from the largest, palm beach county, to the smallest, which is tequesta or highland beach.
we've listened to and considered feedback from the various members of the public regarding
these two station sites and have taken proactive steps to address concerns that have been presented.
for cinquez park, the town has minimized the amount of property being used for the fire station.
the proposed station site was shifted to the southwest corner of the property abutting the indiantown road commercial corridor.
the town has aligned the station with the adjacent commercial property and the indiantown corridor.
this also shifts the station's driveway to align with the commercial property next door.
the town is adding space to the western dog run. The town has shifted the proposed park access driveway connection on
carver avenue to aligned with a multi-family parking lot driveway.
the town will preserve more of and enhance the large field north of the ficus or banyan tree,
as it's known, and that tree will remain intact as it is today.
the town will greatly enhance the landscaping along carver avenue around the station and along indiantown road with
a beautiful native landscape that provides visual appeal and acts as a natural buffer from adjacent uses.
a fire station must support the needs of both the fire department and the community, which is located.
what you'll see and here tonight are very well thought out site plans that address the functional requirements of
the fire rescue department and contribute to the community's architectural landscape
and that minimize impacts on the community's residents. With that said, I'm going to now ask our design engineers
wgi to review the technical details beginning with cinquez park.
[noise]
>> thank you. Good evening. Sorry. Doug with wgi,
on behalf of the town, representing the jupiter fire rescue station in cinquez park.
the request before you tonight is for a site plan application, a special exception to approve the development of a fire station in cinquez park.
here, you can see the project location along indiantown road.
it's on the northeast corner of carver avenue in indiantown road.
you can see the depiction of the fire station, which was located,
as the chief said, as close to indiantown road and down the commercial corridor.
here is a future land use map. Again, we're depicting the fire station on
this map close again to indiantown road and carver.
you can see that it's in line with the commercial corridor down indiantown road.
the future land use of the property is proposed to be public institutional.
this is the zoning map of the site. It's a total of three acres.
the zoning is public institutional.
again, this map shows just the surrounding uses of the site. You can see cinquez park in its entirety here.
again, the site is within the three-acre affected area.
here is the proposed site plan. One of the things we tried to do was push this roadway
south as much as possible to avoid any conflicts with the existing ficus tree.
it also aligns, as the chief said, with the commercial across the street.
there's a medical office there.
we have a total of 23 parking spaces for the fire station.
this road, the east western road through the park.
again, this southwest portion was realigned and essentially becomes a dead end road,
emergency vehicles only for the fire station employees.
here we have the location of the preserved ficus tree,
also known as the banyan tree. This is a big consideration and a concern of
the neighbors that this would be moved or removed.
but actually shifting the road further south again than it exists
today helps to preserve that tree and maintain it.
as part of this development, there will be the existing median within indiantown road.
we'll propose a curb cut median cut, be signalized emergency only use for
the eastbound traffic from the fire trucks exiting onto carver.
because this new road will be essentially for fire station employees only,
create a new west access road that will connect and align with
the multifamily development in the west that will also contain parking on street parking.
>> due to some of the parking that we're adding for the fire station, that there was a slight impact to the existing dog park.
there's a small reconfiguration to the dog park, but we're actually pushing it further to the south,
which ends up being a net gain in area for the dog park.
there is the existing restroom building to the north that won't be affected.
however, right now there's grass parking lot and we're proposing to for the town is proposing to pave that parking lot for the restroom building.
here we have a snip of the landscape plan. It's hard to read, but we just wanted to show that we have
significant landscape plans for the fire station area in
that southwest corner of carver in indiantown as well as actually all the way up on the eastern side of carver.
we're proposing some significant landscape improvements.
these are the proposed elevations of the fire station.
we worked very closely with the town not only to meet the code,
but to make sure we met the vision of the town for these new fire stations to make sure it sets a new standard.
here is one rendering that was prepared for the project.
this is a view looking into the main axis of the fire station.
this is a view looking north from the north.
in conclusion, the requested site plan amendment will be in compliance with the town code,
subject to conditions in resolution 78 24.
that concludes my presentation. >> thank you. Town staff.
>> good evening commissioners for the record, gary watson with the planning and zoning department.
here before you tonight with the proposed application for the syques park fire station application representing staff.
this slide just real briefly covers the subject property. I just want to reiterate this site is three acres that was
purchased with general fund money and while the whole site is three acres,
the actual impact to the site is a very, very small portion on the southwest corner of this property.
that's what it ended up being after all of the revisions took place and after listening to the community.
real quick just background because I know we were here last month with
the future lands map amendment that moved forward to the town council on the 18th.
back on may 21st, council selected this site as the western fire station site.
came to you all in june of 11th as part of a land use amendment,
which you recommended for approval. It moved forward the week after you all saw it to
the 18th and the future l and use map amendment was approved on first reading.
second reading will be next week next tuesday, and it'll align with this site plan as well.
since those times, we've been having some ongoing resident and park user input,
small group meetings, individual meetings that the chief has had with residents,
as well as numerous public comments. We went back and listened to all of them numerous times to make sure we were able to capture
everything that was said on the record since the public has been introduced to this site.
as part of that, we went through the conceptual site plan design and we modified it to address that input.
real quick on the left side of your screen, that's the may 21st plan that was shown to the public when the site was first selected.
as part of that, residents had expressed very strong desire to maintain the existing ficus tree,
more affectionately known as the banyan tree. They also wanted to preserve as much open space on
that western corridor or the western portion of the park. As possible.
with that, they also had some concerns as it relates to traffic and safety on indian town road,
some response time conflicts with the potential for parking to be provided along that exit driveway.
some construction impacts with it being so close to the dog park, as well as just general noise and trucks that are in proximity to the dog park,
as well as the surrounding residents. Lastly, any impacts to the dog park size.
those are things that we heard very loud and clear at the may 21st meeting.
in response to that, and as the chief noted earlier, the plan on the right was developed.
it really was designed to take into account all of those concerns.
real quick to cover those. The idea was to minimize the footprint that was taken up in
the park for the fire station and expand the western dog run. I was able to align the exit driveway of
the fire station with the commercial property to the west. It reduced the noise impacts of the residents and
the dog park by shifting the use significantly further away. It aligned the new park access driveway,
which is that driveway that goes just south of the restroom building with an existing multi-family driveway where there is perpendicular parking.
it makes an intersection there, and that's to minimize the presence of headlights in that area.
it preserves much more of the land around the ficus tree for gathering space because we heard that's used as gathering space,
and we've seen it as well and as much of the north field as possible.
it also created more separation between those primary park uses that people enjoy and the fire station.
also, since that time, it's important to note and it's noted on page 5 in the staff report,
that we've heard some additional community desires as it relates to that open field area.
there's a sanitary sewer line that needs to be lowered in order to level that field.
we've heard irrigating that field and making it really nice and green grass would be something
that we should look at as well as modifying the landscape palette on the property to make it more tropical,
align it more with our gateway features. Those items, some of those are on the plans tonight.
some of them aren't because they're more technical aspects, but they'll be included in the design and construction package.
moving on to parking observations. Staff has made numerous parking observations at the park over the past 4-6 weeks.
we've reviewed historical imagery of the park that was really since it opened back in 2018.
we've put together the table that you see on the top. I want to just point you to one quick thing I needed to fix on here.
you'll see under the existing column, we have 67 spaces,
57 is noted in your report. Again, proposed 57 now and 47 is noted in your report.
go off the numbers in this powerpoint. We have an existing number of 67 spaces and a proposed number of 57 spaces.
that does not include the 23 that are provided for the fire station and community room.
that is solely park users and surrounding users.
we've made numerous observations, as I noted, and the highest demand that we found and any one of those observations was 32 spaces,
which is about 56% of what's proposed now on site.
the average demand was 19 spaces, which is about 34% or about one-third of what's proposed on site today.
that's even less than ten spaces that are being lost as part of this development.
we're still significantly over-parked at this park based on our observations.
now, that said, there's a couple different opportunities which are presented on page 7 in your staff report.
the parking lot that's north of the restroom building.
that has been chained off since the park opened, and it's never been used,
and rather than paving it, which is part of the plan,
that area could be left as grass parking and simply opened. If maintenance became an issue,
if parking was significant on that property, it could be paved at a later time.
that's something we're asking for some guidance on from the commission and from the council.
second, if the future need arises, we could very quickly and easily produce
10 more parking spaces on the property, utilizing parallel spaces.
that could be built rather quickly in order to make it a net and neutral there.
there's numerous opportunities to act very quickly. Should the demand increase or should something happen where the demand increases.
but trying to keep as much green area as possible for the residents,
as open space as possible. The parking demand that was observed on site and
what's being provided is completely adequate.
real quickly, I'll just cover the conditions. There's two conditions that are required for compliance with code,
and we're working with wgi to address these two. First is architecture.
you'll see on this slide here on the left side. There's two entry features. Those are on car avenue and indiantown road.
those need to be more prominent. We're working on increasing those. They'll be significantly landscaped to be clear,
as you all have seen in the landscape plan, but still visible somewhat from indian town road
and that needs to be addressed in order to meet the code. Second is a pretty standard condition, water connection fees,
it's a new building, that will have to be done during construction time.
we also have some conditions that are just recommended modifications to it,
and those are three related to the site plan. First is to evaluate the intersection,
so you can see on the right side of the plan that's on your screen. There's softening of that curve there,
so that when you're driving straight to you is to
actually utilize the public and not straight being to utilize the fire station access.
will help with some of the confusion as that traffic pattern changes,
as well as flipping the location from the north side to the south side for the parallel parking.
that's an effort to maintain as much of that north field as possible is green.
that's one of those locations that an additional eight or nine spaces could be built in,
should that need arise. But for now, keeping it as open and as green as possible is
what we've heard from the community and that's what we're going for. Lastly, some pedestrian amenities.
there's several pedestrian amenities throughout the park, but there's also some public use space within the fire station.
having some of those public amenities around the fire station is something that we've included as a condition.
condition on traffic. Palm beach county traffic. We are in process with them.
we expect to have approval sometime this week, I believe, from palm beach county traffic,
and town's traffic engineer has reviewed and approved the application.
last condition we have is signage. In order to be consistent with some of the other signs that you see going around town,
mostly on indian town road, seven feet is the historical precedent for signage in the town of jupiter.
we've recommended a very similar condition or an identical condition here.
you'll see in the picture on your left, that's the existing synqes park signage.
that's not proposed to change. There's no proposed signage with this application.
but if the need for it arises in the future, this limits the size of that unless it's put as part of a pedestrian amenity.
you'll see right behind the signage is the gazebo. We're trying to figure out what can be done to the gazebo.
it's not in the best of shape. There may be an opportunity to construct
some pedestrian element there that mimics the gazebo and provide some signage.
we've left the door wide open. If that's a desire in the future, we can do that.
real quick in closing, I want to go through the site plan and special exception criteria.
site plan is going to meet all 12 criteria with the conditions of approval that were noted in the report as well as the presentation,
and special exception criteria, we note that all have been satisfied.
just real briefly to cover both those topics. The proposed fire station is consistent with the comp plan and the town code.
it's compatible with the character of the area and surrounding uses as it's an integrated and essential part of the community.
it's located fronting on the commercial corridor. As the chief noted earlier,
it's very common for fire stations to be in residential areas as well as on government properties with other shared uses,
oftentimes parks and in very close proximity to residential.
we maximized the remainder of this property to be used for any other park use,
even the more active ones on the three acre by pushing this property over to the southwest corner as far as it could go on indian town road.
with that, I'll leave you with the rendering. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
>> thanks, gary. We'll start with board questions.
commissioner kean, let's start with you on this, please. >> thank you. I just wanted to get clarification on one thing.
did I hear it right that the dog park is being
moved closer to indiantown road and closer to the fire station?
>> yes. The expanded area is moving south closer to indiantown road.
but it's a long linear area, so it's not being expanded. >> is it possible to move it anywhere else in the park?
I mean, it doesn't make sense that you're moving it closer to the traffic and to the fire station,
is there any other location that could be moved to? >> no, that's the only location because
it's already framed on the west side by the existing access road.
there's only minor modification with the parking and adjustments to those access pathways that's occurring on the west side.
just to supplement the minimal loss there, it's being expanded in the southerly direction.
it still has a significant step back from indian town road because that
was a design criteria when we originally developed the park that it not be too close.
>> I appreciate what's been done. I like the corner placage,
and I was concerned because, of course, we spoke of historical items before and
this park actually has an interesting history to it in and of itself.
there's a great marker, if you have never read it, you should read it. It's a good one.
but I'm very pleased to see that we're probably doing the best we can in
terms of location and adjusting. It's for the questions.
>> just to follow up. There's there's approximately it's
over 50 feet between the property line where the sidewalk
is to the location of the potential new location of the dog park.
it's not like it's going to be butt up against indian town road.
there's a walking path that will still remain. There's landscaping that we're adding along the entire front.
it looks like there's about at least 50 feet and probably more than that based on the plan.
>> fifty feet and some screening with the landscape. Thank you.
>> thank you. Commissioner manon. >> what's the code height for buildings in jupiter?
what's the height of the fire department going to be? >> in this zoning district,
50 feet is the maximum height and the building is 34.5 feet.
>> out of the three acres, how many are being used for the fire station?
>> approximately half-half.
>> the area that you said was grassy that you have had
fenced off or roped off that no parking is in? Is there a way to incorporate that into the park if the parking is not needed?
>> if you're saying that you've never used this parking, that you've kept this area roped off,
can it just be incorporated into the park?
if you don't use it and you haven't used it since the park opened.
>> as a grassed area. The other thing is,
because it was really hard to tell on the drawings, exactly how is the landscape going to be like in reference to buffering,
buffering the fire station basically from indiantown, but from the residents and from the dog park?
>> that's a great question because we worked really hard. There's a lot of existing sabal palms at that corner where the fire stations proposed.
there's 87 that are going to be relocated along the front buffer,
and it will basically mimic the gateways at center street,
and so we're going to be continuing that landscape theme along the front of indiantown road.
then as we approach the fire station,
we've taken a little bit different tact and we're doing more of a tropical landscape theme,
but still native with clusias along that and it's along the entire length all the way up to the church.
it includes the bromeliads as well as the clusias,
and royal palms, and key thatch palms. We've really worked to try and really beef that up,
so we blend in the open space with the fire station itself while providing the requirements that meet the code.
>> how's the buffer going to be between the fire station and
the residents and the buffer between the dog park and the fire station?
>> the code requires just a hedge and trees every 25 feet.
there's a three-tiered level landscape plan that's proposed that has taller palms,
shade trees as well as clusters of palms, and then a continuous clusia hedge.
then in front of that smaller accents with bromeliads, crinum lilies, key thatch palms,
and some sabals only at the corners, at the entrance to the new drive.
then also that theme is also along the driveway of
the fire station so that it can blend in and help buffer between the dog park and the users of the pica street.
>> I was mostly concerned with the noise and how well it's going to cut
down the noise to the residents and just from the dog park.
I think that's all my questions. Thank you. >> thank you. Commissioner garcia?
>> yes. Thank you. I have a few questions.
one of the statements made by staff in the analysis is while the fire station property is located in indiantown road is not in indiantown road,
olay zoning district, assume it's because one is commercial versus pi,
public institutional, is that correct? >> yeah. When we changed the land use to recreational and built the park,
we took it out of the ioz because it's institutional land. >> but the one statement there also, therefore,
it's not required to adhere to those specific landscape regulations. Let me ask you this, is the landscape plan as proposed more stringent than that,
more enhanced than what we would normally get if it was part of the indiantown road, olay?
>> yes. >> I just want to make sure. Equivalent or better?
>> yes. It's better.
>> you said you did an observation of the parking. Was that all aerial?
did you actually physically go out and count cars on a periodic basis to see how the park's being,
what the demand for parking was? >> we made numerous site visits over
the past 4-6 weeks primarily in the evening time when it was nicer out.
we waited until it was a nicer day, a little bit cooler. We tried to maximize the number of people that we would find there.
>> because I go during the morning with my dogs and it's usually packed in the morning because that reason it's cooler,
the bugs aren't out and it's not raining. I just thought maybe you might want to look at the morning too, just to make sure.
>> [inaudible] you experience the highest peak? >> I usually go between when it opens at 7:30 except for wednesdays.
anywhere from 7:30-10:00, usually it's got quite a few people there. Obviously, last saturday was very busy because the parks recreation had an event there,
so had a lot of cars there. I'm in favor of leaving parking spaces grass at the time being,
so I want to get that out on the record. I would not pave it over because it looks nice, grass,
but never can tell once it starts using how much wear and tear it will take, you may have to pave it, but right now, leave it as is.
you made mention of a seven foot height sign, if one is required.
are you going to tag an overall area to that sign? I know some flag wharf.
you made a statement that hey, a seven foot sign,
but an area of 84, which made it seven by 12. Will there will be an area requirement for that sign also if we decide to use it?
>> typically, in the ioz, that would be limited if it was in the ioz.
we can certainly provide a limit if it's something that you would desire. >> I just say if we go for a sign seven foot,
we ought to put a limit on the width of it too. Another question.
the sign on the building, the sign itself for the fire station.
currently, it looks like it's on the west on carver,
why wouldn't that be along indiantown road where the frontage is of
the fire station? Just to comment.
>> yes, sir. We've actually asked wgi.
in this rendering, what you're looking at is the view facing west,
and so this is what I would consider the back of the fire station where trucks come in.
we've asked them to also place that same exact look on the carver side,
which is where the trucks would go out, and it's very typical in the fire service,
that the signage for the station is over the bay, over the entry and exit of the bay.
it's just typical in the fire service. Now, if you want it on the indiantown road side,
I'm all for branding. >> that's why I was looking at branding. I'm more all in favor.
however you guys thinks best. I just noticed that looking at it, why isn't the sign out front as opposed to along the sides?
I know with the last meeting some of the residents voiced concern over the noise.
has there been any type of noise study done with other fire stations that are located in residential areas as far as the amount of noise?
>> boy, I'm glad you asked. I went out there twice.
first time I was a bit embarrassed. Brought a chainsaw out, couldn't get it to start.
but I went out the second time and the code enforcement folks from the town of
jupiter police department who were trained and do a lot of noise complaint studies,
brought their equipment out, they were certified to do it. We ran that chainsaw full open speed and they made me do it for three straight minutes,
while they studied the sound, and they studied the sound outside of the dog park,
but over next to the dog park. The results of that study were that they got 63 dbm noise,
which is conversational level. >> below the 85.
>> if we're going to run any of our equipment in the back of the station,
the noise level at the dog park would be conversational level.
of course, the station itself is a natural physical, big barrier to that noise going anywhere towards the residential area.
>> that and the orientation of the in and out for the fire station plus the landscaping.
I think a lot of noise abatement there too. That's all the question I have. Chairman.
>>thank you. Commissioner dunning. >> well, can you hear me?
we have made a lot of progress on this since we first talked about this at our last meeting,
and I think you guys have a lot to be proud of together with staff and the chief here.
I'd like to commend you for it. You've listened to what the residents have said.
you're trying to come up with alternatives that will meet everyone's needs,
and I don't like building in a park, but this is what we have to do.
this is what we have to do, and this is where we have to meet the greatest needs for the people.
one thing that we talked about the relocation of the palm trees, I think there's pink ribbons around the trees right now.
if you go through the park, that's going to be the trees that are going to be relocated, is that correct, garrett?
>> that's correct. >> [noise] excuse me. Also we got a letter in late this afternoon, I guess,
for some of the residents that were on the site,
and it sounds like from their only concern is pretty
much the palm trees and the way the landscapers are doing in the park,
and I know we haven't had a chance to evaluate that. Thanks to chief donatto and vice mayor sandstrom,
it sounds like we've captured a lot of their concerns, and it's going to be a nice park,
I think, it's going to be good for everyone.
this is what we have to do, and we have to think of the greater good for the people,
and we're placing it in a place that will maximize response time that our first responders need,
and we're now into the implementation factor of the fire stations,
that has to be all upstanding on october 1st, 2026, I should say.
I wanted to say I appreciate all the work the staff and chief has done and others
have done to make this work for the town in my opinion, and the residents.
>> may I echo the same sentiments. Great job in the way you're listening to the residents
and designing this with their concerns in mind. Just a couple of things. The dog park is bigger,
than it previously would be? >> that's correct. The western dog run [overlapping]
>> I just want to make sure that. On those grassy areas near the rest rooms,
do you need to leave the cement curbs in? If you do that, will that blow it for using it for parking in the future?
why wouldn't you take those out, the parking curbs?
>> it's stabilized, so it could be used in event purposes.
that's why the curbs were there, but it's not needed. That's why it's chained off.
we'd have to go back and remove all those things if the council or the commission [overlapping]
>> would it be possible to do that or you need to leave them there for future events? >> they could be removed.
it's just that there's also stabilized sub-grade under the grass as well.
>> that's it for me. Nice job. >> council.
>> it's always nice being on the end because everyone gets most of the questions out up there.
anyways, to the letter from the four carver avenue residents, I didn't understand.
was that address the removal of the four oak trees, or was that decided not to do that or?
>> well, we haven't changed any plans obviously from getting that in.
we're just seeking direction from the commission and the council ultimately how they
want to address that for the frontage on carver.
it's not an issue. We can do that in our final plan submittal to trade out the trees for an alternate species.
>> can you show where those trees are on a diagram?
>> yeah, maybe the applicant [inaudible]
>> there are four existing live oak trees, so if you drove out there, they exist today.
along carver, they exist today. They're probably about 15 feet,
they haven't been trimmed. >> are they able to be relocated?
>> yeah, we could probably relocate them.
>> they are a little hard to see on this drawing because [overlapping] >> right now they're like object along the roadway.
>> yeah, they're in between the planting here.
here's one here, one here. There's a couple more here. Right now they're integrated into our design,
but as steph said, if they need to be replaced,
usually we try to preserve the trees, but they could be replaced.
>> what are your thoughts as well about the alexander and royal palms along the northern boundary that they requested? Is that something?
>> royal palms have been added to the plan.
because the site was basically a wetland prior to construction,
alexander palms would not do well in this area and there's maintenance revolved.
we have key thatch palms, we have royal palms, we have the sabal palms behind as backdrop.
we are only adding a few at the driveway,
not really too much, but we could look
at putting them along the fire station where they might get more maintenance,
but this is a public park. We like to have maintenance that is indicative of what
is natural and what does well in a hammick area,
which is what this was, the soil dictates, and that's why we're looking at those types of things.
I remind you that there is no irrigation at the cinquez park,
other than the dog parks. What is in there today was done with that in
mind for maintenance and it's an open space property. Also, we've done the gateways with no irrigation as well.
if you plant the right materials, they will do well and we want to make sure it does well in the long run.
>> station 2, it's on the western elevation, where it says station 2.
I agree that I think it should be on the southern elevation as well because people going by,
that's what they're going to see, not the carver avenue entrance. I think that would be helpful. Then I also noticed between that and
the [inaudible] the cinquez park is in red, station 2, and then the [inaudible] it's in black.
I just think they should match carver avenue side.
as far as the grass parking, I would be in favor of keeping it just because
like there you have an event or something like that, like we had this last weekend, you could use it. [overlapping]
>> thank you. >> I would agree with the parking concern. You said you looked at it 4-6 weeks,
and even dog owners are seasonal.
I know my current dog, I couldn't take there, but by previous dog, I used to,
and I did meet people that were down that were seasonal, so it could be that we would need more parking then.
but other than that, I think it looks great.
>> via aerials, occurred during the season period.
they were from december through, I think, a couple of months.
it straddled the new year. But the ones we did more recently in person were within the last couple of months.
then anecdotally, we go there, so we have some familiarity,
knowing that it's never overcapacity. We have not experienced it being at a high level of saturation.
that's why we felt comfortable with the 10-space reduction as flexibility.
>> I'm considering what he said about the mornings as well when it's busier then.
>> we'll continue to make observations as we go
through the construction process and make adjustments if necessary.
>> thank you. Just a couple of comments for me and one or two questions.
I would like to commend everybody involved in the progress we've made in
being responsive to the residents and citizens on this. It's great to see how you all have worked with
all the different stakeholders to bring something to the planning zoning commission.
I think that addresses a lot of people's needs. Thank you for that. I did have two quick questions.
one for the applicant. Thinking about environmental concerns like fuel tanks, diesel generator,
when the fireman rints out the hoses and their equipment, where does that water go and how does it get treated before it gets put into the system?
>> these sites will both end up having generators. We're 24/7 business, and those generators are
proposed to be diesel generators and they'll have a double wall tank that is directly beneath the generator,
so the generator sits right on top of the tank itself. So it's all contained in one smaller unit.
again, double-wall protected.
every fire station I'm aware of has that exact arrangement,
including the one I just left. And we don't really think there's any concerns that meets all those standards.
in terms of water runoff, we do have drainage systems that go into filter,
sand filters, and oil separators. So we catch all the water that would come from the trucks themselves or anything.
we do it on that apron site, we call it the apron front back of the station. >> and they don't fuel the trucks?
>> there's no fuel storage there, no fueling there, that will be done offsite at the town's public works facility.
>> and the only other question is the community room, how is that access to reserved typically?
>> the community room is designed for the community and they'll be able to contact fire rescue and make reservations for that.
people can have birthday parties for their kids there at the fire station. People can have meetings here at the fire station.
we talked about the idea that anecdotally,
we've been told that there are a lot of community groups that meet underneath the tree itself, underneath the banyan tree.
there's a bunch of rocks around there and folks meet there. It's like, wow, that's a great thing. We love that.
if it's raining out, maybe we can offer for them the opportunity you don't have to stop your meeting, meet in the community room.
so our goal is to make something that's an amenity to this community,
and as easy for them to get to as we can. >> thank you. Let's see.
>> I have one more question. >> sure. Go ahead, m.
>> in this debate that we're having tonight, is there any discussion about what's actually
the construction of the firehouse or is that going to be at a later date?
like what's in there for the fire department, the people that are staying, how it's laid out.
is that now or is that going to be later? The fire department itself.
>> the floor plans are provided as part of the application,
but we don't typically get into them other than square footage and uses relates to parking.
so it's not coming back, that wouldn't come back to you, no.
>> okay, just curious because there's been no discussion or there's been nothing said about it. So I was just curious.
>> it's also not appropriate for public consumption. That will be dealt with internally.
that's what I was trying to find out. >> that answers my question. Thank you.
>> and I'd like to make one more comment. Like I said, I visit the park numerous times with my dog.
and I will say that all the times that I visit most of in the morning, a couple of times in the evenings,
but I've never had an issue with parking. There's always been ample parking available all around it.
so you know, I hadn't have a park a block away in order to get a space.
it's usually always been right in front of the park, so right? >> thank you.
>> before we deliberate, are there any comments from the public? >> no.
>> no comments from the public. Any comments or deliberation before we entertain a motion. Mr. Blum.
>> I just want to make sure that we incorporate the citizen comments letter into this also,
that we take that into consideration also. >> so can I get a motion?
>> I'd like to make a motion that we approve the motion for the fire station.
at the same time, I would like to make sure that we, the staff,
would take a look at some of the suggestions or enhancements that we
got on this letter from some of the residents there that won't slow the process down.
I think john, you, and I talked about that, that can be done at the very execution portion or something; is that correct?
>> yeah, we'll see direction from counsel and we can resolve that through the submission of final plans.
>> and as far as the grassy area leaving that the same,
we can also take that in consideration during the final execution phase also.
>> I mean, we need to plan for it because it's going to be paved.
it will be in the design requirement. >> so based on that, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the fire station.
>> do you have a second? >> second. >> second.
>> commissioner blum. All in favor? >> aye. >> aye. >> aye.
>> any opposed? >> well, I want to get my question in before we [overlapping].
>> hold on. >> commissioner blum is not voting tonight.
>> sorry. >> I second motion. >> before we second the motion, can I ask the question?
>> sure. >> commissioner guisinger. >> are we voting to pave over the grassy area or leave it as is?
>> the current plan is to pave it over, right? >> I'd like to keep it grassy.
>> I'd like to keep it grassy. That's why I'm asking in this motion that we make a decision on the grassy knoll.
>> so would you like to modify your motion? >> yeah, I'd like to make a motion that we approve it and hold off
on paving the grassy area that we talked to until later on, and that might be subject of a different conversation.
>> thank you. >> I second the motion. >> second by commissioner guisinger. All those in favor.
>> aye. >> aye. >> any opposed? >> thank you. Moving on to the jupiter fire rescue department, piatt.
am I saying that right? Piatt place? >> piatt. >> piatt place. Special exception on site plan approval.
we will start with any ex parte disclosures, commissioner blum.
>> I've driven by. >> commission kelso. >> I've driven by as well.
>> me as well walked the site. >> driven by google earth.
>> I've driven by and talked to staff. >> I've driven by also.
>> driven by. >> thank you. Applicant.
>> good evening again,
doug murray with wgi on behalf of the applicant. Before you, we have the jupiter fire rescue department hyatt station.
the application requests are for site plan application, special exception to approve the development of the fire station.
project location map. It is on us one,
just north of the harborside development on the west side of us 1,
and also just southwest of the burt reynolds park.
the future land use of the development is commercial also within
the us 1 intercostal waterway district and waterway commercial and entertainment sector.
the zoning of the site, also us 1 and intercostal waterway corridor district and waterway
commercial and entertainment district and surrounding uses.
there is, again, just north of the harborside development there is a vacant property between the subject site and harborside.
you see to the east is burt reynolds park. To the north is burt reynolds park.
additional boat ramps, and directly to the east is the existing palm beach county fire station.
here's the proposed site plan. The total site area outlined in black that you see is about 4.7 acres.
one important thing is the area that you see that's outlined in the brighter green,
that northern is actually the western boundary. Of this is the edge of the existing mangroves, the existing wetlands.
there won't be any impacts to the existing wetlands. I don't have an aerial,
but maybe you can see a little bit of the aerial on the previous slide. There is an existing the remains of a parking structure,
so that area was already impacted. It was a development that was abandoned,
so that was already impacted. Fire station, again as on the southwest corner of the site here,
two story 13,800 square feet.
parking provided is 26 spaces. For the access to this site,
there's a new egress off of highway us 1, and then the egress actually take place on the old jupiter beach road.
it's currently not developed as a road, but that'll be improved for the egress to the fire station egress only.
as part of this, there will be median brakes created, which will be emergency use only.
so northbound exiting fire trucks can get through
median for emergency purposes and then northbound left turn into the site for emergency purposes.
then other feature that was developed, working with staff is a rain garden,
which is where the detention area will go. That's enhanced for a garden feature, enhanced landscape.
the section of the northern portion of the development will just remain vacant at this time,
but there is potential for future development of any park feature.
I think staff will discuss that in a little more detail.
here's the proposed building elevations.
again, we work very closely with staff on these. We did not have a rendering at this time to show you,
unfortunately, but this is the landscape plan. You can see again,
we have substantial landscaping proposed along us one, as well as surrounding fire station.
and staff assessment, the requested site plan amendments in compliance with the town code.
conditions are included in the resolution to address some minor details of the plans and future signage.
that concludes my presentation. >> thank you.
>> good evening, commissioners, garrett watson, for the record with planning and zoning.
I'll be brief on this. Much like the cinquez station, the piatt site,
the goal was to try to minimize the amount of land utilized for the fire station.
the plan really started with that as the main goal.
you'll see in your packages, there's an sp2, which is right below the main site plan.
that site plan lays out a conceptual second phase of this property.
the council actually has a strategic priority, a current strategic priority for piatt to investigate some other uses on the property.
and the idea with sp2 is to generally entitle the site plan with some of those uses that have been discussed.
those uses include a riverwalk connection loop to the riverwalk,
as well as planned sun trail improvements, which are along the sidewalk on us highway 1,
potential for a future kayak launch and marine and environmental enhancement areas.
so if the council desires those types of uses in more detail,
we can either do a future roundtable. They can discuss it as part of the parks master plan.
numerous ways for them to give us some feedback on that, but the idea is just to lay that out there that we left
a lot of the site open for good things to continue to happen on that property.
there's a minor condition as part of the site plan, which mr. Murray noted.
it's the creation of a rain garden. We're still working on some of the details with that.
we just have a condition that will work out those details. We want to make sure it captures the storm water from the roof to the greatest extent
possible and actually feeds that water into the rain garden and that we cite appropriate materials to make sure that they can handle that water and
make for a really nice element along us highway 1.
as mr. Murray noted previously, the site was significantly disturbed, however,
there's a spectacular mangrove forest that is just to the west of this site.
the property was inundated with exotics previously in coordination with fdot as part of the bridge project.
a lot of those exotics were removed. What remains on the site is to be not touched.
we're not touching the mangrove forest as part of that.
in addition to that, the code in the comp plan requires that we do a transitional upland buffer whenever we border wetlands.
that's being proposed here. However, given that there's two phases to the development of this property,
there's the fire department phase, the fire station phase, and the potential park improvement phase.
we have a minor condition here as well that we just identify through the planting plan,
what parts of that transitional buffer get done with phase 1, what part gets done with phase 2.
ideally, the portion that borders the fire station will be done at first, and then the remainder of the park will be whatever that is in the future,
that will be handled at that time.
unlike cinquez station, this station meets the design criteria of this.
we worked very closely with the applicant to make sure it met the design criteria of the sector of the town code.
we also this project, we did receive the palm beach county traffic approval letter
pretty early on with this project, so that has been done with this project as well and we have limited
the free standing signage with an identical condition to what was in the cinquez park property.
again, no signage proposed in terms of free standing signage for this property.
but if it ever is, it could be used as a pedestrian amenity, we could develop something there,
or we would limit it to the seven feet. Just in conclusion,
the site plan and special exception criteria are met with this application.
it's consistent with the code and the comp plan with the conditions that are in there. It's compatible with the character of the area,
as well as the surrounding uses, as it's an integrated and essential part of the community.
it fronts along the commercial and mixed use corridor, that is us highway 1,
and it's common that these types of properties, fire stations in particular,
share government properties with other uses. In this case, again, a park.
with that, I will leave you with that and to answer your questions. Thank you.
>> board, questions for the applicant or staff, starting with commissioner blum.
>> a few months back, we talked about some vacant land that was just south of this property, correct?
that we looked at some housing as well as some commercial use?
>> that's correct. Directly south of this property, the kb carlin project.
>> so have they weighed in on this? Are they're aware of this? >> they were provided the plans early on,
but as it was, it did not move forward through counsel.
nothing has happened on that project since it went through counsel.
>> and what happens to the fire station across the street?
that's owned by palm beach county, correct?
>> we just don't know what they'll do with it.
>> they indicate they're going to continue to operate it at this time.
>> the one on military, is that owned by jupiter? >> the military station was donated to
the county by the town of jupiter as part of the abacoa development order,
we had acquired it through that process. There is a clause in that deed that it
returns to the town at such time that palm beach county no longer provides fire service to the town.
that will be taken over by the town and be the third station for fire rescue in jupiter.
>> that's all I have. Thank you. >> commissioner kelso.
three things. One, I love the sun trail river walk connector and the rain garden features.
that's excellent, especially in that area. I also highly agree with the recommendation to install
the entire landscape buffer along us1 to provide that cohesive streetscape.
I like that as well. The same condition we had before with the seven-foot sign max,
that we have some square footage or with maximum as well with that.
the last thing you have there is a potential kayak launch when I looked at where you have that,
how would you get to it from the property? >> [overlapping] it would be with the river walk connector,
so we would punch through, and we would also be doing marine enhancements,
which is a separate project, but that needs to go through council.
we're just looking at a conceptual approval in terms of phase two,
which is having a general river walk. If you look at sp2 in your plans,
it just has a dotted line for a river walk, and then also the added benefit
of having a kayak launch through there is if you look at this aerial,
you see a lot of vessels moored over there. There's a requirement for 150 feet from any vessels,
so kayak launch would be applicable, those would have to move away to meet that requirement.
>> I just wanted to say that I'm very much a big proponent for the river walk and the continuation and the connectivity of that.
anything that goes to that I for it. Thank you.
>> my comments are all positive about this. I think it looks great.
I love the environmental enhancements and the concern about the environment.
it was an eyesore beforehand with that big slab of cement there,
and never got built up and has always been that way. This is a drastic improvement.
my one question is, I know there's timing with building there because of the us1 bridge construction.
how is that going to work if the timing is not
favorable to building when us1 gets done because if it gets delayed,
how will the fire department take care of the north side of the river?
>> I don't know if thomas is here. He might be able to weigh in a little more, but I will tell you that,
and you've been there. There's this incredibly horrid concrete underground structure there.
it's going to take us some time to tear that thing out and fill it back in.
the initial construction work that's there is really demolition work on
site itself and then fill work on site itself.
we don't anticipate construction starting of the actual building closer to january.
as I understand, we're hoping that's right about getting close to the time when the bridge should be getting ready to open.
again, thomas could weigh in a lot more than I could on that. We are sensitive to that.
we think we've got our timing lined up.
>> thomas hernandez, director of engineering and public works for the town of jupiter.
I believe in your question you were asking about opening up and
construction related to service for the town of jupiter service on the other side of the bridge.
the town of jupiter's fire department comes online at october 1, 2026.
at that point, the bridge projects will already have
one lane in each direction and likely be completed entirely by that time.
chief had alluded, we're working on that. >> aren't they using that for staging area though,
so they'll be pulled out of there by then? >> correct. They are currently using the contractor,
which is johnson brothers construction, also a southland holdings is currently utilizing it.
there is a contemporary construction easement agreement between
the town and that company to utilize it for the laydown area.
we're currently in discussions with that contractor to work on getting
them a new location and get them relocated over another site.
trying to work with them as well as some of the other adjacent property owner.
we've been in discussions with them for some time now and looking to finalize those.
>> thank you. >> commissioner dunning.
>> well, I think it's a great plan considering the alternatives.
it really distresses me that we have a fire department right across the street there that palm beach county won't let us have.
I know you're not a sue say or anything like that. What would they possibly utilize the site for if they're not going to be servicing it?
do you have any idea? Have you heard anything on that? >> my direct question to them about that,
they responded that they plan on continuing to use that site to provide fire service.
I think based on the numbers that we're aware of, that's about one call per day or a little less actually than one call per day.
we've indicated through the mayor and others that we'd be willing to purchase, buy, lease,
contract, whatever it is for that station and we'd be willing to run those calls at no cost to the county in any way shape, or form.
that one call per day wouldn't really hamper any of our functions,
but they've indicated that they don't want to do that and we don't have any control over them.
there's a couple of residents who have sent letters to the county commissioner recently
about that and responses of all come back that we're not changing our mind.
>> what service area are they talking about? >> there are these county pockets throughout jupiter,
and so there's that whole-.
>> jonathan's landing. >> that whole area, actually not only jonathan's landing but
the public shopping plaza there and along indian town road.
that whole area is a county pocket. That is the largest area that it would serve and then there are a couple,
the whole dubois park, and that area of the park is all county.
there are a few little pockets, maybe right along near a1a up by the bridge,
little pockets here and there. Small areas. >> I got it. Proceed on.
I like the river walk idea, too. That's really very enchanting. That's all I have.
>> thanks, commissioner dunning. Commissioner guisinger. >> have you provided fdot an end date when they have to
vacate that property for construction to begin on time?
I know you're in negotiation, but sometime this is a date you have to be off the land.
>> we have provided a date when we would like the relocation to be complete.
we're looking to start the demolition of the existing parking structure by october 1st of this year.
ideally, by september the 30th, everybody would be off for all items as whether it's containers, materials, et cetera.
but ideally as soon as possible, and even in working with them,
the contractor has indicated. They want to get it done ideally sooner because
there's some things in their own construction schedule that they don't want to tie up with that.
>> thank you. I still don't like the signage for the fire station on the north side.
as you drive by [inaudible], that's where I wanted to go see it as opposed to long us1,
but I understand tradition is tradition, I guess.
one last question, what about the elevation of the fire station? Just out of curiosity.
that's a lot of wetland sitting on there. During a hurricane scene was that fire station being evacuation zone?
>> one of the conditions we're putting in the design construction criteria packages
that that the finished floor elevation be above the category 5 storm surge level.
that's all being taken into account through the engineers to make sure that the station will be above those levels.
>> let me see if I had one more. We talked about the signage square area.
I only add one more thing. Back in 1985, my brother-in-law and his fiance had
put in a contract to have their reception at the [inaudible].
[laughter] they had to slab and frame everything, and within, like, six months I told them, we're not going to complete it,
so I had to find a new venue. [laughter] little history there back two years.
>> thank you. >> that's all the questions I have. >> commissioner vinson.
>> what's going to happen? Are there going to be two emergency lights that are going to be activated,
one for rescue, I believe it's 18, and then one for the new fire station within a short block of each other?
>> I don't know how many feet, but away to the north is that intersection to the park,
and there is an emergency signal there that that fire station the county operates would control.
then our emergency signal at that median cut-through is quite a bit further to the south and that would
be activated for this station to go north or to go south.
but primarily it's to gain access to that north because of the traffic,
we have to stop it all to get through that cut-through. >> there'll be two. >> there are two separate ones.
but again, funny, the same call volume is going to exist for one station,
it'll just be split in two. The light won't be activated anymore,
it'll be once a day, that one gets activated and another five times a day, we activate ours.
>> I am definitely in favor of the river walk. That's all I got.
>> commissioner keenan. >> I think everything's been covered. It's unfortunate circumstances to have such duplication,
but it's a win-win. You've done a great job. Thank you. >> quick questions from me.
rain garden. I'm picturing a retention basin with plantings.
it's just a slightly depressed area. I'm a civil engineer by training,
so these things are interesting to me. But it's a depressed area, so the water that runs off from the roof of the firehouse
sits there and then is measured out into the system,
so it doesn't all go in once. You see these everywhere,
but they're usually not nicely landscaped. That's what a rain garden is. I didn't see any in here.
does this firehouse also have a community room in it? It does. Great. Those are all the questions I had.
>> can I ask one additional question? >> certainly. >> technical question, the dynamic emergency traffic preemptions.
we're using it, but that's a good question since the palm beach county would still be using our roadways for various things,
would they have access to that same program? >> it was our intent to utilize traffic preemption for the safety of the residents,
the safety of the firefighters, as well as the folks that we're responding to to get there quicker.
it's interesting enough that right now, palm beach county,
signalization in the county is almost entirely controlled by palm beach county,
including here in jupiter. I think there's only two communities that aren't on the county system.
that's the town of palm beach and boca raton. All other communities utilize palm beach county.
palm beach county is currently out to bid right now for a county-wide traffic preemption system.
that bid is supposed to be announced sometime in july 19th,
I think, but I don't know for sure, it's been pushed back several times. But it's very likely that there's going to be
a single county-wide traffic preemption system for all fire departments with the exception of the town of palm beach,
who already has their own, and boca raton, who already has their own. >> if they get theirs, we would not put in something.
>> we'd be able to utilize the one that they're putting in. Or ideally what we would do is say, hey,
we're going to make sure we have the exact same one so that it's all compatible.
>> certainly. >> this is just a follow-up, is my own interest. Because you're near the water.
you were talking about the sand and the oil traps before. Are there any extra precautions?
you have to locate them differently because of the mangroves. >> now we're all way back away from the mangroves,
and we're going to use all the same precautions. They're being built into the design to ensure that we protect both sites environmentally.
>> thank you. Public comments.
>> we don't have any. >> thank you. Comments or deliberation before we entertain a motion?
if not, can we entertain it or would someone like to make a motion?
>> I'd like to make a motion to approve the exception of site plan application for the piatt fire station.
>> motion made by commissioner guisinger, do I have a second? >> second.
>> commissioner cassatly. All those in favor. >> aye.
>> any opposed? No. Thank you, everyone.
staff update. Any report on recent town council actions on commission items.
>> at the june 18th, town council meeting, the council approved the rezoning of the kb carlin property,
which is south of the piatt.
>> are you switching it?
>> approved by the town council. Also, as we noted in the I cinquez park,
application tonight that the first reading of the future land use map amendment was approved.
then on the 954 old dixie highway application,
the council denied the request to amend the condition.
>> thank you. I'd like to adjourn.
do I have a motion to adjourn? >> second. >> so moved. >> all in favor?
>> aye. >> aye. >> an opposed? Next meeting, tuesday, august 13th. Thanks, everyone.
>> great.