to make it official again calling to order the planning and zoning board meeting for the city of plantation dated November 10th 2026 madam clerk would you please call the roll mr. Joseph Goldstein yeah mr. Corman yeah mr. Freeman here mr. a here thank you all right first order of business is the approval of the meeting minutes from September 1st 2026 does anybody have any corrections or additions to those minutes seeing none do I have a motion I move approval is there a second I'll motion for a second there second second we have many seconds please call the roll miss Gelfand mr. Goldstein mr. Corman yes mr. Freeman yes mr. a yes thank you all right with two items excuse me the first one is quasi judicial p.m. two six dash zero zero nine eight mr. attorney would you like to read the quasi statement y'all can silence your phones please yes sir we have item p.m. 26 zero zero nine eight consideration requests to approval practical difficulty waiver for the levy residence the property is located at 5620 Southwest 5th Street in the zone RS 3F single family residential I will swear in the witnesses before speaking as this is quasi judicial please state your name and whether you've been administered the oath when you come to the podium any speaker may be cross-examined if you refuse to be cross-examined your testimony may not be considered cross-examination shall be conducted in a courteous manner the material in the city clerk's agenda packet will be made a part of the record and the city staff will make the first presentation followed by a presentation from the applicant do we have any effect that parties madam clerk that have signed up so we have no effect that parties that sign up under the rules so the public will also be able to speak speak on the item and then you mr. chair can set reasonable times for that speaker in which we usually do three minutes the hearing will then be closed and the matter decided the decision from the board will be delineated in its motion and rendered in writing by way of a resolution if the board may also decide to continue the matter for additional time for allow for additional research or review with that being said if you're planning on speaking on this item please stand and raise your right hand and be sworn in rise so our final testimony there will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth you may be seated mr. chair if you would okay Lisa silk with the planning and zoning department this is for the Levy residents for p.m. 26-00 20 98 it's gonna be located at 5620 Southwest 5th Street right there where the star is okay there's a zoning map it is developed with a single-family home with a two-car garage okay right here it's surrounded by other single-family homes with the same zoning district RS 3k or 3f sorry hey they're asking for a setback waiver for a concrete slab to reduce the setback from 10 feet to four four feet six inches here's the front of the home and the bottom picture you can see that there's just a little bit of a trailer behind that that fence and here is the aerial view of the property and you know the area that we're going to be looking at right now is going to be the this area here plus a new concrete slab where is it down here here's the survey of the property and here is the proposed or the plans that the applicant has submitted so we'll see here at the top of the yellow right here that corner per the applicant is four feet six inches from the property line and down here the new slab that they've just installed is six feet nine inches from the side property line okay there is a code case on the property for doing work without a permit so this just kind of outlines the violation right now they've gotten an extension in order to try to apply for the the variance and then after they apply for the variance they'll apply for the applicable building permits okay citizen comments we have received several comments in support of the application which was included with your your packet and one a few phone calls and at least one email with questions not necessarily objection or support but questions and yesterday the city clerk's office did receive one written opposition opposition of the the application okay here is a map of what we've gotten so far for the support and oppositions we have four in support which are you know two or direct neighbors on either side two or across the street to the north and one is south across the canal which is an opposition okay practical difficulty criteria which kind of outlines what we wrote in the staff report so I won't reread everything we found that does not meet the first criteria partially meets the second meets the third meets the fourth and partially meets the fifth so we are recommending approval it is behind a fence and just if you have any questions for the applicant or staff do we have any questions for staff at this time in light of it not meeting factor a but that it being substantial it's a 55% I mean if you're doing the math that's 55% reduction right and we've had this come up a couple times recently including last week well last meeting with the tennis court which so I don't I'm not what was staff's rationale to approve this yet I think they recommended not approving I believe we were looking at the fact that it was a larger lot it was out in the acres so there was a full acre lot and they had room to accommodate that what we didn't know at the time at that case was that they were because they did not provide the elevations of the the cut through that there is a significant dip from where the house is to where the end of the the property is so they are coming back you guys were going to allow them to come back showing the additional information and I believe they were also good planning on doing an addition to the home do you so those plans we didn't have access to at that time so yeah okay um so can you clarify for me because there's in the diagram it showed two different slabs and if you can go back I sure can I'm going to show you the aerial too here's the diagram so this currently here this is existing roughly where the yellow is you can barely see it I'm I apologize so I'll take you to the aerial so you can see it a little bit better so this is the area that's existing right now that was also I believe installed without a permit and we don't know when um we have an idea based on the aerials it was yeah recent or not recent probably a few years ago and here is the new construction that they recently put in here I believe the gentleman just passed out folders and black folders where he has photos showing that construction happening can you and can you go to the picture the recent picture that's the next slide I think sure and so is there a rear setback here is that that there is a rear setback of five feet got it and that meets the setback from what I've been told yes just looks close so this one make sure okay yeah it's probably the angle of the photo and so engineering I think would have reviewed this and if they have any comments or concerns about the addition of impervious area on the site and potential drainage concerns with adding concrete um she is right here um yes we reviewed a semi-rational and the city engineer we reviewed the case and currently the site the lot is almost 12,000 square feet and only 6,500 of that is impervious there so they are at 55 percent the code requires maximum of 65 percent impervious so with the addition of the slab they are still okay under the threshold under the code so we have no objection to this thank you thank you um with regards to the code violation right there chicken and egg question yes which one in essence becomes the overriding factor for this bill the fact that they built it without the permission or is the code waiting for us to issue a variance and then are they going to green slip that like they're they're waiting for us they're waiting for you know you to make a determination of whether to approve or deny the variance request then they have to go through the permitting process and they do have to prove that what was installed does meet the florida building code okay any other questions for staff at this time would the applicant like to make a presentation or pitch if they're here come on up payment address please in the uh entry there my name is ronald levy 5620 southwest 5th street i am the homeowner i do have one more letter of uh support it came in late give that one to the clerk thank you so the existing yellow slab has been there i want to say at least 12 years it's created no issues for anybody no neighbors back in 2024 i had a vehicle stolen out of front of my yard uh well over a hundred thousand dollars in value was paid out and basically unfortunately now i'm trying to put everything behind my fence which as you see now there's a truck behind the fence but i had no slab to enjoy the outdoors can't wash my dog it's just always way too tight so i pushed it out and did what i did but the closest area to the neighbor's house has been there for 12 or 14 years so it's it's and you put both slabs in i did is that correct yes sir and the only the only reason why i have not had or filed for the permit now obviously after i went i came i'm sure you can see the next day i came first thing they told me was you cannot get a permit because you need a variance otherwise your permits automatically denied and your citation will continue right i guess why when you wanted to put a slab in did you not check to see what the requirements were so i did but however i did look up via google it's my fault and it does say the miami dade county code miami dade which i guess that's more hurricane stuff i believe we follow miami dade hurricanes quite a lot it does say that concrete is not needed to be permitted as long as there's no walls no electric and there will be no walls no electric no water none of that so that was my i had an on-screened trailer citation i fixed that immediately concrete slab was there when that happened so i figured i was clearing in to go does anyone else have any questions vicky go ahead you tell me what the use of the pad is for well it's to keep my truck and boat in the backyard away when i wash it obviously would create a mud pit and pulling in and out of my yard it would be very muddy coming in and out i do use it quite often and then other than that we're just going to put some patio chairs on there and a picnic table and just enjoy life great i own my house i feel like i should be able to enjoy my backyard and absolutely but i'm still concerned why you didn't go for a permit i i just said that ma'am i mean i had the same thing happen to me but i paid a fine and i got it approved well that's so but mine was something that was there when i bought the house that i didn't know about you put it in yourself that's correct okay and like i said i had a citation for an on-screen trailer concrete slab was already there there was no issue i figured i was good to go clearly was the original concrete slab permitted no ma'am so none of the concrete slabs are by your house have been permitted at all is that correct that's correct okay that's all thank you anything else you want to add at this time not that i could think of all right um might have you back up for more questions okay but for now um since there are no more sorry questions from up here is there anybody in the gallery that wants to speak to this issue uh you can both approach one at a time name and address when you uh get up there good evening i have some prepared remarks uh my name is spencer sadkin i was born and raised here in plantation and now i'm raising my own family in the community i've always called home i bought my first house in plantation in 09 and my current residence is at 5641 southwest 6th street i bought that in 2013. i'm here tonight to strongly oppose the practical difficulty waiver on several grounds i'm being asked to accept a permanent impact on my property without any corresponding protection or mitigation my perception of what they will do and use it for is based on the structure and backyard design that has already been created i live diagonally across the canal from this property and my family and i are what i believe to be the second most negatively impacted by this request when i purchased my home i chose to live on a canal in no small part because of the attractive use in green space what was once a backyard with grass and trees opposite me has now been replaced by an expansive elevated utilitarian concrete surface used as a parking lot for cars and trailers the city of plantation municipal code was developed to protect homeowners in maintaining a similar aesthetic in an upper middle class suburban neighborhood aesthetics and neighborhood character matter to me and to most homeowners why should my family or any other neighbor be forced to live with this eyesore simply because the applicant chose to pour concrete without first obtaining the necessary approvals in addition to the eyesore the currently of the currently built slab itself mr levy has stated that the intended use is to put vehicles and trailers in his backyard for the theft that occurred i am sorry nobody wants to see that happen but this this extending the concrete slab has further exacerbated the visual damage the application is being considered under section 2752 g2 and i believe it fails all of the practical difficulty standards regarding the screening a neighborhood character the staff concluded that it the concrete slab is adequately screened because it's hidden behind a six foot pvc fence along fifth street but that completely overlooks the view from 56 terrace more importantly from the homes directly across the canal from my property the concrete is plainly visible in its height width and depth which is an unusual peculiarity you can see exhibits b and c that i provided a large elevated concrete parking surface is not consistent with the landscape's residential character of the neighborhood i've provided exhibit a their next door neighbor directly across the canal for me as what is representative of the neighborhood character second staff concludes that the approval would not be detrimental to adjoining properties i strongly disagree i've had a real estate broker tell me that my house will now be harder to sell and have reduced value because of the eyesore my family's enjoyment of our property is directly affected as i have to look at the eyesore every time i look out my window or swim in the pool with my daughter and wife the only way for me to eliminate this view would be for me to install a solid fence that sacrifices the canal view which i purchased the home to enjoy third what exactly is unique about this applicant's circumstances staff acknowledges that the difficulty is self-created and that the property already has a driveway and two car garage for secure storage we all want security for our families and vehicles many plantation homeowners own boats and trailers these are not unique circumstances warranting special treatment are we now saying that ordinary driveway parking is an undue burden if this qualifies for a waiver why shouldn't every homeowner be entitled to pave over their backyard and build toward the property lines to become work toward a zero lot line city i have about 30 seconds left may i wrap up you can have 30 seconds the applicant also had the opportunity to request a waiver before pouring the concrete had they done so affected neighbors like me could have raised these objectives before the work was completed finally there are significant unanswered questions about what is actually being approved there appears to be two adjoining concrete slabs does the waiver cover both what prevents additional vehicles boats or trailers from being stored there and why on earth would the applicant receive another year to obtain a permit for work that should have been permitted before construction environmental staff identify potential deficiencies in landscaping requirements but there's no meaningful screener mitigation proposed i respectfully ask the board to deny the waiver the applicant's preference for additional paid parking does not justify shifting the aesthetic and neighborhood impacts onto surrounding homeowners thank you thanks next name and address please my name is excuse me my name is brian leisenfeld i live at 5621 southwest 6th street directly across the canal along the residential waterfront corridor tonight i'm speaking in formal opposition to waiver request pm26-0098 the applicant is requesting retroactive relief from the mandatory 10-foot setback but before evaluating that request look at the critical misrepresentation at the heart of this application the applicant and staff refer repeatedly to the slab singular this is not a single slab there are two separate unpermitted slabs poured 12 years apart under mr levy's continuous ownership since 2012 exhibit a contains a recorded warranty deed and aerials proving that the slab was first poured in 2014 into the 10-foot side setback exhibit b is an aerial from 2020 2021 time frame clearly showing the applicant's truck and boat trailer parked side by side on that footprint his claim of practical difficulty is provably false reasonable residential use already exists exhibit c shows that on august 21st of this year the applicant poured a brand new 15 inch thick backyard extension triggering open code violation ce26-02286 in the waiver request under in this waiver request under staff comments number three staff recommends approval provided it quote will not apply to any future addition or extension of the concrete slab but the august 2026 poor is an unapproved extension framing this request as relief for a concrete slab singular is a calculated attempt to fold in an illegal backyard extension into the older side slab therefore i request two clear actions tonight first recommend denial of pm26-0098 the hardship is non-existent and entirely self-created second direct code enforcement to enforce violation ce26-02286 by requiring the complete removal of the unpermitted august 2026 backyard extension at a bare minimum a bare minimum if any relief for the 2014 side slab must be strictly conditional upon complete physical demolition and removal of the 2026 extension before any permit is finalized do not set a precedent in plantation that a resident can pour illegal concrete twice and ask for forgiveness once thank you any questions well anybody else to speak on this okay uh before i close i have a couple of questions first one is for the applicant if you come up the first slab that was poured yes sir there is a picture that provides a truck and a trailer next to it it looks like after the second slab was poured there's a much larger trailer is that the same trailer or is that a trailer for a different boat now same same trailer same trailer so just is parked a little bit farther back on that slab that's correct further back and you could actually walk around the second question i have even though landscaping staff has not commented about it it is a very sparse backyard that you have you have no trees you have no bushes you have no landscaping barrier whatsoever approaching that back wall would you be willing to put in what amounts to a living wall i'm talking like a calusa calusa hedge 12 feet tall that completely blocks off the view of that back slab and the entirety of your house if so last that is the plan as trailers are supposed to be screened okay screened with landscaping when is landscaping bushes hedges correct as far as that plan goes is there a plan that was submitted to staff with regards to the the plan and the code that you were code issues that you're putting in there because there was no mention of landscaping in staff report no that's supposed to be i believe with the permit and what is the plan as far as what you're going to put in there with specifics what what you see oh what do you mean what are you planting what are you planning to plant at this time i don't remember the name but they're like calusas they i have them in the front yard on the side of my house i forget the name of them how large do they grow i've been trimming the ones that i have but they're over my head i got to stand on a ladder to cut them got it so they're probably close to the roof height currently anybody have any questions while he's up here you have the front picture you might see them on the side on the east side can we pull up the picture at the beginning of the presentation while vicky asked her question go ahead um the people that put in the slab in the back um is it a contractor or people you're just friends the ones who did the physical labor physical labor was just hired who was the contractor i am the contractor oh so you are you is that what you do for a living you're a contractor no but i was contractor and it still bugs me that you didn't want to get a permit i never said i didn't want to get a permit but you didn't get one you didn't get one for the side of the house either that just bugs me i'm not i'm not a contractor i was my own owner builder i did that for a front door but i still had somebody come i still got a permit i was an owner i was an owner builder permit for my front door and how long have you lived in the city of plantation 2012 it's a long time to know to to not know about permitting so just my statement thank you i mean the slab that's the closest to the neighbor's yard's been there forever and there's been zero issues yeah but the issues are being brought up by the folks who are across the lake not the ones next to you who are blocked by a fence where are the bushes in those pictures that you're talking about you can't really see well this is going to be the same type of bushes that are in front of the house obviously those get trim so that they don't go above the window but on the very far side you can't see them or you might be able to see them they're up high up against the window just over that light now back to this calusa you can buy different heights correct so are you planning on starting with like one foot calusas no or four foot no minimum four maybe six foot okay and we'll hide the only issue they seem to have with it will be hiding that slab so that they don't have to see it any other questions from the dais for the applicant you may sit down thank you for the two who just spoke would that be an acceptable solution to have it completely landscape screened hold on wait wait until you get up there and then give me your name again i don't think so in my personal opinion in my use of hedges and bushes and things like that they grow up they get bushy on top our issue is with the appearance of the slab which is down low close to the ground as these bushes grow higher the branches down below tend to drop off and they're just you see the the trunks of the bushes themselves going up you and you see between them this is how critters and dogs and cats and stuff get between bushes and hedges like that is between those things that they were planted in um if you look at the diagonal photo of his backyard where he shows that slab that unapproved illegal slab already there we've already got that part please get to your he's got response not much room to plant these trees and bushes in there if he does there is no walkway for his dog for himself or anybody else that needs to walk along the back of that house are there any existing easements on those lines uh no not the survey that they have on file just shows where the 15-foot structural setback line is but they don't did not show any um easements on the property so arguably no one would have to walk back there additionally if you look at my exhibit c that shows the pictures of the poor you can see there's grass sticking up through the the rocks that he just simply spread over the top of it i don't believe i worked in construction um 20 30 years ago uh i don't think just to just to not to cut you off but i'm cutting you off just to verify landscaping is not a solution for you is that correct landscaping is an issue for me if it's proper so if it is done to your specifications you would be okay with that slab staying in place yes or no as long as it hides the appearance of the slab from the neighbors adjacent to the canal i don't i wouldn't have an issue with the appearance okay let me get your neighbor's official on the answer on the record answer to that same question can i finish please it depends on i was stating that the that the i don't think this the ground underneath the slab was properly prepared for the concrete poor that's a question for the code people not for us and they can see that in the pictures i presented and we're not here for that question thank you you you used a term a minute ago something along the lines of a a wall it would have to be extremely thick not just a one foot uh hedge going up i mean you'd have to be talking about a couple rows of hedges to ensure that it's dense enough maintained for a significant enough number of years to guarantee that it actually takes root not just as planted and then disappears like you do often see in a lot of a lot of projects around town um if if that condition is met though would it be an adequate solution for you if that condition was met and unfortunately the property if you do see in the photos slopes down toward the canal yep which means that you i don't remember who threw out the number like four feet six feet you're actually talking from our side which is elevated it would probably have to be 10 12 14 feet high but if you could meet that we i would probably be a satisfactory okay because because calusa hedges can grow upwards of 10 feet but when you're talking about starting specifically the reason why i ask that question is because it is a sloped backyard so if he starts with a one foot calusa hedge it would take forever if he starts with a four or six then it's already mostly covered i don't think it is with with the depth that the with the depth that it goes down toward the canal where he's planting from i think you're talking it would have to start eight to ten but that's not but obviously there would need to be a slight amount of time for anything to grow in but my question is basically would landscaping be an appropriate solution for you yes or no given the appropriate landscaping that would be an acceptable solution okay but acceptable is obviously subjective i and i did the one other thing i mentioned in my my comments was mitigation for the future i don't know what guarantees would be there for five ten years down the line should something change should something die that's a concern of mine as well okay any other questions or comments hearing none i'll make i'll make a comment and because i want to explain why i'm going to vote against it because i'm sympathetic to you mr levy levy for you know it's your property and you want to make use of it i understand that and i also want to bring this up to staff there's five factors that we need to take into consideration for a practical waiver here um staff finds that three of them are not fully met the the setback is um is more than 50 percent so it's way above what we would consider minor um so for that reason i'm sorry i i'm gonna have to say that i won't be voting in favor of the waiver i wanted to explain myself because i i feel i feel sorry for that that it's there i'm putting aside whether it should have been permitted first but i just wanted to explain why i'm going to vote against it thank you chair any other questions or comments all right so you want to speak on this hold on if you do you were not sworn in so you're gonna have to get sworn in so if you would come forward i did i was i was about to but he got me with a comment it was all right how are you good how are you raise your right hand and you swear from the testimony and give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth oh my god all right all right so name and address please uh richard cabrera 1881 southwest 52nd avenue plantation harbor been there since 1990 and none of you i presume are landscape architects mr levy's not and the two neighbors that are opposed to this are also not so i don't think none of us are super qualified to be able to create you know a visual impression of what to expect when plants are gone in when six months later a year later and so i would suggest that if you're going to approve it have before approval you uh mr levy uh retain the services of a landscape architect who knows what your concerns are the neighbors concerns are and he can create a plan and project how long it will take for uh the hedges whatever they are end up being to grow to a height of uh eight feet that's all thank you any oh yeah staff sorry just on that point uh the code does allow for screening of vehicles and rvs and boats um up to a year for the plant material to grow in thank you any more comments all right public comments are closed on this do i have a motion all right make a motion sure i would make a motion to approve with the condition that they um have staff review and approve the landscape the condition to install the the landscaping as discussed along that rear property line but also through with review and approval through city staff if approval is appropriate but certainly review um to ensure that it meets the concerns that we talked about here today do you want a specific height i think i would defer to staff landscape review so but four to six no no no i wasn't going to say the height just i just want to make sure you're clear for the for the record that you want hedges or i know we're talking about a specific type but i'm sure there's other types that could be acceptable under the code but you want hedges that screen the backyard from the canal i think that's what was discussed but i want to make sure that's part of your motion if that's what you're intending to do that's correct and i think i want to lean on landscape to ensure that the appropriate hedge at whatever whatever type that is meets the the goals that we're trying to achieve is there a second i'll second it so we can go to vote sorry i was wanting i forgot to mention this in my presentation we do would like to add one more um one more condition on it that we get a final survey after they get their building permit to ensure the dimensions do we have to modify the motion with that for that yes sir and modify the motion to include all staff conditions including the uh condition uh read into the record by mrs elk okay okay thank you and just just say say say that just i can't make the motion say you have to say what he just say oh motion what he said and for the motion to include all of the staff recommendations and the updated survey as described by miss zilk perfect and my second will be modified vicky what was your question before we go to a vote the question i have is the um the charges the penalties for not getting a permit is that included in the motion no no why not because that's not your purview okay it has a code enforcement case and that's going to get decided how it's going to get decided by the special magistrate okay thank you uh just to let you know the the building department will double fee them i know that's not a huge amount but they will double fee them for the permit all that being said clerk if you would so wait wait i have a question hold on so is did we specify a height of the of the or which as it's so she just said as i guess staff deems necessary is there a height that you would think would accomplish this i i don't know i'm just trying to like to make everyone happy if possible so if that's the case then i would amend to at least 10 feet based upon the fact that it slopes back could you say like above the like x feet above the top the height of the slab i mean i would say eight feet above the height of the slab which would probably be 10 feet from where they're they'd be planting based upon that picture that i saw so is that amendable as well all right so one more time we're going to play the game everything we said plus eight feet above the slab uh approve with the conditions already discussed as well as the additional condition that the landscape be eight feet above the slab and i will second now we can call the roll okay um mr goldstein no mr quorman yes mr freeman yes miss ray yes miss gelfand all right that's a three two we got a quorum did that pass all right right congratulations y'all are going to have to work to landscape to the best and my advice is keep track of what he mentioned about the lower end of it and the need to possibly put smaller bushes in beneath before whatever you have but we leave you with stuff thank you um now we move on to other business and that would be the 20 25 20 45 comprehensive plan discussion before we start with this i'm going to take a little bit of prerogative right here my day job is to fly airplanes tomorrow i go to san diego when i go to san diego i'm going to have a flight plan that plan considers all the elements necessary for me to get safely from miami to san diego bottom line i'm looking at weather i'm looking at the route i'm looking at the fuel i'm looking at the aircraft status any limitations or maintenance that's on it i'm looking at the airspace any closures that are out there i'm looking at the airports whether or not there are facilities constructions any modems that are out there on that airport any of the passenger issues whether i have wheelchair passengers o2 canisters in the back or oxygen generators as well as any clear legality safety and sop issues that pop up that flight plan is going to get me from a to b however execution is a different story execution in order for me to execute that flight i got to follow the regulations laws and policies that are set out obviously there are going to be deviations or any non-normals or unsafe conditions that pop up those guidelines on how to meet and address them are covered within those particular policies policies at my airline are different from policies at other airlines both however operate under faa jurisdiction they're the law when it comes to flying which means if the fa mandates something there's nothing i can do about it if i'm on the ground when air force one is on the ground and air force one starts moving i have to stop that means the execution of my flight plan is going to be impacted by what the government says so when we're talking about planning versus execution the plan if if the plan is solid enough the execution is smooth and that happens with my flight all the time but no flight is perfect when it comes to execution that flight is going to happen the airline wants it to happen i however have the opportunity override and refuse something if i consider it to be unsafe so do some of the other players maintenance if they find the airplane is unsafe they can override it operationally the company can take my airplane to use use on another flight there's nothing i can do about that likewise if i have an emergency and i have to divert for any reason that plan goes out the window i'm executing it under emergency authority it's not part of the plan but it is considered in the plan now my plan is guided by laws and oversight when i fly from point a to point b i cannot just do whatever i want like flying over the white house i can do that one time and then never again but the plan is not the law okay the plan is the guide that i use to get to san diego every flight plan has errors every one of them there could be root issues whether or not it's a legal route it could be a legal route but not an efficient route there could be performance issues like on takeoff i could have a tailwind that was not planned for so i've got to adapt i can have passenger issues all of a sudden a boatload of students show up and i have 20 more passengers that i planned for i'm going to have to adapt likewise weather issues increased winds means more more fuel being burned i have to accommodate for that and airport issues we've all taxied for 30 minutes in chicago because of construction that is something that i have to account for with all those errors and the chances of errors occur in the execution all the time it's the responsibility of the stakeholders to minimize and exercise oversight of the process so i as pilot in command will do what i need to do the mechanics and the dispatchers they will do what they need to do the controllers the baggage handlers the fuelers the cleaners and the passengers all have a say you've heard see something say something that is your say in whether or not the plan gets executed according to what we plan if the concerns are valid the plan is going to change but the execution is the responsibility of the crew so you all really don't have any say in how it gets executed you have a say a little bit of the plan so now we go to what we're going to be talking about here and you may have figured out why i was using this analogy the comp plan is the code plan it considers all elements related to development redevelopment in the city of plantation for the next 20 years includes density traffic transportation building heights landscaping storm water water sewer public services development patterns affordable housing all of those are elements of the plan execution of development and redevelopment follows city county state laws and codes things like difficulty waivers or variances that y'all just sat in on that's one of those easements bonus densities the live local act these are all things that impact the execution with regards to live local it's a valid concern but it's possibly not what you think it is basically if a develop if a developer decides to go live local what that means is that they must follow the code they must follow the law if they do so it means administrative approval that's just spark notes version of what live local is this is why adherence to the plan is so important and the code is so important it's equivalent to air force one moving we have no say if somebody follows all of the rules so now we're going to plan versus execution and what we're talking about here no plan is perfect but it does serve as a guide for the city for the residents and for developers it exists for everybody if that plan is respected execution should be smooth if the elements are ignored the stakeholders can override and refuse at this point we're talking about city council we're talking about those of us up here on planning and zoning or in the drc these issues can be brought up the code plan is guided by relevant laws and regulations at several levels not only within the city but within the state and county as well it's also guided by input from the stakeholders like those of you in the room right here the development that occurs must respect the plan and be subject to oversight by staff pnc council and the citizens but it's still just a plan every plan has errors no error is ever purposeful let's put that right out there right now so staff has worked really hard on this for several years errors can slip through and if they do there's a process to amend the plan it's not set in stone you often see this in the movies you know they had a plan for what the avengers was going to be and then they brought back people for refilming if you ever saw the avengers you notice that scene at the end where they're sitting in the swarmer shop and captain america's like this reason captain america has his hand right there is because chris evans had already grown a beard for another role but they brought him back to film it so that we could enjoy it so things can change but you have to recognize what the purpose of these two items are plan versus code just looking like just like with my flight plan it's our responsibility to be vigilant this plan has been open many times over the last few years for discussion staff has opened it more than once to to address and correct concerns that y'all have identified once that process is over it shifts to execution that means that it's a responsibility of you all and of our elected representatives and the city staff to make sure that the plan is comported with but that the execution is what the city wants so what i urge you to focus on is not necessarily the minutia of the plan because the plan can be changed no plan is perfect what i would ask you to focus on is the execution side of things which lives within the law and the code and who approves that having said that i know staff has a presentation and then we will open up for public comments those public comments will be three minutes for each person good evening michael oppert um interim director uh before i do a powerpoint presentation i actually have a video presentation that's about seven minutes long the city of plantation is updating its comprehensive plan but what exactly does that mean in this video we'll break down what the comprehensive plan is how it differs from the city code what's included in the plan and how state and local requirements play a role let's take a look at plantations proposed 2045 comprehensive plan so what is a comprehensive plan and why do we need one a comp plan is a roadmap for managed growth the plan helps a city consider how new homes businesses and other development will fit into the community and what services and infrastructure will be needed to support them florida law requires local governments to maintain a comprehensive plan and ours was due for the update as mandated by the state the city's proposed 2045 comprehensive plan looks ahead 20 years but we are also required by state statutes to revisit it every five years to consider updates now that we know what a comprehensive plan is how does it differ from the city code let's take a closer look at how the two work together the comprehensive plan is the roadmap it sets the high level long-term direction for the city the city code equates to the rules of the road it defines the specific requirements residents and businesses must follow for example the comprehensive plan could say that we can have a restaurant in a certain area of the city but the code would specify that fast food restaurants with a drive-through are not allowed there so what's actually inside the comprehensive plan although the plan is composed of 15 elements it is centered around four key topics housing and growth management traffic and transportation infrastructure and sustainability first let's look at how the comprehensive plan guides future growth and development the plan guides the types and general locations of future development development including residential commercial and mixed use areas it addresses housing needs and the amount of development that different areas may accommodate the goal of balancing progress with traditions is enshrined in our strategic plan and the policies in the comprehensive plan are intended to do just that manage future development in targeted areas while protecting the character of our residential neighborhoods midtown gateway and the areas along major corridors identified for transit-oriented development are where the city would seek to attract redevelopment investment redevelopment should not and does not take away the green space but repurpose the already paved areas such as aging strip malls and underutilized parking lots and while denser it should still enhance the community the city has long planned to create a downtown area in midtown planners have long suggested an eventual expansion to 50 dwelling units per acre and that has been a tentative idea for years included in the original plan draft we now are more inclined to keep it at 25 at this time as our city grows and evolves we also need to consider how people get from one place to another the plan considers how people will move around the city including motorized vehicles public transportation walking and biking on our roadways bike lanes and sidewalks it connects future growth with transportation needs and helps guide planning for a network that serves all users it promotes a system that reduces dependence on cars and improves mobility throughout the city but planning for growth isn't just about what we see above ground it's also about the infrastructure that supports our community every day the plan considers how water supply wastewater systems and drainage facilities handle future growth many residents worry infrastructure can't keep up the comprehensive plan make sure that there are policies in place to consider that impact additionally the city code expands on this by providing for private infrastructure as well as the capacity charges and impact fees to ensure that development is paying for the necessary expansions along with planning for our city's infrastructure protecting our natural environment and green spaces is another important part of the plan the sustainability element is a new addition to our comprehensive plan the plan speaks to the efforts to reduce vulnerability to climate related risks strengthen infrastructure and community preparedness and promote long-term environmental social and economic health it also establishes a framework to protect natural resources wetlands wildlife habitats and environmental quality and it outlines the requirements for parks recreational facilities and open spaces in other words it sets an expectation that decisions support a sustainable community while preserving plantations green spaces and quality of life while the comprehensive plan focuses on plantations future the city must also consider requirements established at the state and county levels plantation has local planning authority but it must work within state law and applicable county planning requirements the state has reviewed our proposed comprehensive plan and this draft incorporates the revisions they required broward county maintains the broward county land use plan known as broward next county planning policies address regional concerns such as housing transportation redevelopment and environmental protection the city of plantations future land use plan must be consistent with the county plan and receive the applicable county certification one example of how state legislation affects local planning is florida's live local act the live local act is a florida law intended to encourage more affordable housing qualifying projects can receive approval for residential development in commercial mixed use and industrial areas at certain heights and densities without the usual land use or zoning changes so if at least 40 percent of multi-family residential units are affordable and will remain such for 30 years and the project complies with the applicable city code requirements such as parking rules and setbacks it can be built without the city council approval the maximum building height or density is then defined by the statute rather than local regulations the live local act overrides a number of requirements that may be in local comprehensive plans and municipal codes such as future land use designation density floor to area ratio and building height but other policies are generally still applicable to qualifying projects planning for the future means making thoughtful decisions today to learn more about plantations proposed 2045 comprehensive plan visit plantation.org this video is a product of cooperation between administration and planning zoning and economic development department it's going to be released publicly well it was just now but it's going to be released publicly after this meeting looking back i see people in the room some of them have attended meetings uh at this board and council and others that the comp plan was discussed and some of them have not so i have a presentation that goes into more detail about the comprehensive plan some of it reiterates what the chair just said and what this video just said and we'll have an opportunity for for questions after this so the purpose of conducting a public hearing tonight is to provide another opportunity for the public to weigh in on the plan in addition to informing the board about the plan status while staff is making final adjustments to the goals objectives and policies and the data inventory and analysis in the backup for this item are the following a memo discussing the background of what has transpired since the board's last hearing where this was discussed one year ago including a verification that the extension granted by the state was granted until april 30th 2027. a correction was made to the memo that inadvertently stated april 30th 2026. also our minutes from the public hearing of this board on november 18 2025 minutes from city council public hearings on december 3rd 2025 and july 29th and august 26th of this year the florida department of commerce response table of comments and the florida department of commerce authorization letter dated may 22nd 2026 that's all part of the agenda item that was posted for this agenda we are not here for an in-depth explanation about what is being revised and how we are just informing everyone that we are considering all of the comments submitted thus far as well as any additional feedback that is provided tonight while we work to edit the documents and provide clarifications to the text and to the data once that process is completed the updated documents will be provided for public review however we would like to announce that one of the provisions representing a significant policy change is to allow for a maximum density of 25 dwelling units per acre rather than 50 units per acre which was initially proposed to be for the city's defined priority redevelopment areas just an example of some of the revisions that we are working on partly due to some resident comments partly due to us looking and seeing some things that were not properly addressed before or due to timing and i'll explain that in a minute so for example there are elements the storm water and drainage sub element of the comp plan was reviewed and revised to reflect recent accomplishments regulatory changes infrastructure improvements and updates to the city's stormwater management program so that includes the stormwater master plan which was updated to reflect the completion of that plan and its incorporation into and its recommendations into the comprehensive plan the stormwater assessment fee incorporated the revised assessment methodology including updated equivalent residential unit calculations and the residential tiering structure plantation acres improvement district or otherwise known as paid updated this plan will be updated to reflect paid's transition to a dependent special district of the city effective october 1st of this year also the maps are being updated to reflect current drainage boundaries special district designations and flood hazard information and they're listed below these revisions ensure that the comprehensive plan accurately reflects the city's current stormwater management framework completed initiatives and updated drainage information this is just an example of the uh revisions that work staff is working on i want to be clear about this the development review process so every development proposal that has come before the planning and zoning board for a recommendation and to the city council for consideration of approval has first been before the development review committee the drc is a technical staff committee composed of representatives from planning engineering fire police utilities landscaping building and parks and recreation that ensures that each project is reviewed for compliance with the city code of ordinances the florida fire protection code as well as established architectural engineering and landscape design standards so this was talked about by the chairs also talked about a little bit in the video that you just saw a comprehensive plan is a long-range policy guide that outlines the community's visions vision goals and strategies for future growth over a specific horizon whereas a code is a set of legally enforceable laws and rules used to carry out and enforce that plan on a day-to-day basis the comprehensive plan is generally not directly binding on private property owners though local laws often require to align with it a code otherwise also known as a zoning ordinance or a land development code has the force of law behind it it legally dictates what can and cannot be built on a specific piece of land for example in that video a restaurant may be allowed in a commercial area but perhaps a specific type of restaurant might not be allowed in a certain type of direct zoning designation so what is a comprehensive plan the state required long-range policy document guiding the physical economic and social development for the next 10 to 20 years establishes a vision for the community with goals objectives and policies why is it important supports land use and infrastructure planning decisions for budget planning for infrastructure development ensures consistent and sustainable growth coordination with other governmental agencies and recognition of property rights why are we updating the comprehensive plan it updates population and demographic data ensures compliance with state and county policy changes and mandates addresses emerging priorities such as housing affordability sustainability and resilience it guides responsible growth over the future planning horizon some of the new focus areas of our plan include smart growth transit oriented development activity centers sustainability and resilience housing affordability infill and redevelopment there are 15 elements or sub elements of the plan i wanted to highlight three of the the main ones this is a list of them future land use transportation mobility housing various sub elements can put the composed infrastructure such as sanitary sewer potable water storm water and drainage solid waste there's also conservation recreation and open space intergovernmental coordination capital improvements public schools neighborhood design property rights and resiliency and sustainability future land use acts as a strategic framework to guide sustainable and resilient development through 2045 it seeks to balance growth with the preservation of the city's unique character ensuring land use decisions improve the quality of life for all residents this element directs the distribution and intensity of land uses to promote economic vitality environmental stewardship and social equity some of the key data and considerations are listed below some of the findings include city's population will continue to grow through this horizon and the fastest actual age cohort is 75 and older future growth to accommodate the projected population will occur through redevelopment infill and higher density mixed use city has a small inventory of vacant land 98 of our land is already developed only about two percent is vacant projected growth areas are the sunrise boulevard corridor plantation midtown district and the plantation gateway district the city has an adequate level of service capacity to accommodate growth however some capital improvements will need to be implemented for potable water sanitary sewer and stormwater infrastructure so the future focus areas are mainly the midtown gateway districts and commercial corridors where planning investment and design improvements will shape plantations next generation of urban development some of you in the room were aware of when we adopted a unified flex zone the map is shown here the areas that are shown in white are primarily residential both single and multi-family there is some commercial within there but the primary focus where we would focus our additional tools for density are shown in the red areas and i think as we described the midtown area in the center of the city the gateway area along state road seven and the commercial area around the state road sorry sunrise boulevard corridor so it's an attempt to preserve the neighborhood character while enabling mixed income transit oriented development and fill housing in these priority redevelopment areas this is the current future land use map of the city there's several categories every property has a land use designation as well as a zoning designation land use is a broader designation so for example a commercial a commercial land use but we have about 15 different commercial zoning districts within that um residential land use and there's a there's another 40 or so different residential zoning districts with that not that are very specific to a certain property so this is the future land use map and this is a map that shows the integration of zoning and land use so you see a lot more categories of the zoning designations with the plan that's on the table right now we will have a few a bit fewer land use designations because industrial and office park and commercial all become a new designation called commerce and that's what is shown in red so even the industrial areas that were shown previously that in gray works up here now become commerce in red to be consistent with the broward county use plan like for residents to show to be shown that all the land uses are generally spread throughout the city so for example especially the residential ones so you'll see a state zone a state land use designation is profound in plantation acres and plantation park east that's the map on the left um low density of three units per acre you see in the yellow it's spread throughout most of the city so is low density five units per acre you can see it in the east the center and the western parts of the city you start getting into more higher density low medium 10 for example you'll see in various locations within the city medium 16 medium 25 most of it's concentrated in the center of the city there's also some special designations called irregular residential and dashed line they tend to be in the center central part of the city they are adopted with a specific density and they go through a process called land use plan amendment in order to achieve that the combined commerce category you see a lot of red um and that's primarily in the center of the city in the areas we talked about um but also spread in within some of the residential areas for some of the neighborhood retail centers that you see around the city and of course on the right you see the area shaded in magenta that is the gateway local activity center which is basically a commercial slash mixed use land use designation we also have a few that are utilities not that many but they're in different locations within the city community facilities is a significant one that's generally for civic buildings places of worship schools and so forth and you'll see they're pretty much spread throughout the city and then you'll see the final ones are park and open space and also commercial recreation land use designations in green which are generally golf courses so again they are also spread throughout different parts of the city just wanted everyone to visualize that the the depth of all the land use designations that we have within our plan transportation mobility element establishes a forward-thinking framework designed to ensure safe efficient and connected transportation network that serves all users pedestrians cyclists transit riders and drivers it promotes a balanced multimodal system that supports transit oriented development reduces dependence on single occupancy vehicles and improves mobility throughout the city here are some of the key data and considerations for example travel demand and trip characteristics multimodal facilities transit and mobility planning intergovernmental regional coordination there's several agencies that the city works works with in order to mitigate a lot of these issues roads are either other than local streets um which are generally the city or privately owned roads are generally managed by either the city broward county or florida department of transportation several arterials including university drive pine island road state road 7 flamingo road broward boulevard will approach or exceed level of service ef without improvements travel behavior and commuting trends are part of this element also obviously auto dependence dominates where 70 percent of workers drive by themselves 10 percent carpool uh about three percent are commuters 13 of the workforce as remote working it went up a lot higher during covid but it's decreased a little bit but it's more significant than prior era walking and biking is a less than two percent of trips but it reflects the need for more safe pedestrian and bicycle networks so these statistics highlight suburban travel pattern and underscored a need for multimodal options and transit oriented design to mitigate traffic congestion and help ease vehicular flow i we're going to show some maps of the bus routes that go through the city many of you are familiar with the freebie micro transit option the city has been working with the broward metropolitan planning organization to develop a multimodal master plan the city's also works with neighborhoods for traffic calming and we are working on improving buffered bike lanes traffic calming 88 compliance crossings to improve safety and connectivity throughout our network so it's a comprehensive network but it's automobile oriented and we're but we're moving towards more balance with multimodal mobility so here's some of the maps the city has an agreement with freebie and initially was for the midtown area which is in the center shaded in the magenta color offers free rides within from trips that are within that area it was very very successful the city council eventually expanded it to the area that you see in blue all the way to state road seven continues to be a very successful option and helps reduce parking demand because you're basically taking a trip uh within within this area uh without having to park a car this is a map of the broward county bus routes you can see that they're on the major roadways and then broward county is also working on the premium mobility primo program to throughout the county to have more extension of bus rapid transit and light rail options throughout the county housing element promotes strategies to encourage a mix of housing types and densities to serve various income levels and family structures to support the development of affordable and workforce housing through incentives and partnerships to preserve the character of existing neighborhoods while allowing for growth and change and to integrate housing planning with transportation employment and services to build complete and connected communities these are some of the key data and considerations that are part of volume two just some interesting information about housing affordability plantations median home value is higher than most of the county cities being about 450 000 whereas the county average median average is 380 the median monthly rent is about 2100 which is higher than the county average however 66 percent of renters and 31 percent of homeowners are cost burdened 29 percent of renters and 9 percent of homeowners are severely cost burdened and the single family homes value rose from 320 000 in 2015 to 615 000 in 2023 and condominiums also more than doubled from 109 to 250 000 there is a shortage of affordable about 3 000 affordable rental units for households earning below 80 percent of the area median income and by 2035 there are will be about 8600 owned households and about 6800 rented households below 80 percent of that figure which would be severely cost burdened so it's a it's an issue regionally it's an issue nationwide affordability and so we have some elements in the plan to help address some of these issues plantation has about over 39 000 housing units however some people don't realize that only 55 percent of that housing stock are single family residences 45 percent are multi-family that includes condominiums townhomes duplexes triplexes quadruplexes garden apartments and high-rise apartments about 63 percent of housing is owner occupied and about 37 percent is renter occupied that's consistent with national averages plantations rental vacancies are relatively low only about two and a half percent another fact is more than 50 percent of the dwelling units in the city were built before 1980 only about six and a half percent where have been built since 2010 so most of the housing has been here for decades and that includes multi-family i also want to show you visually that many of plantations neighborhoods and subdivisions have a mix already have a mix of integrated single and family multi-family units for example in plantation acres obviously most of them are estate roughly one acre home lots but there's also several multi-family projects along broward boulevard in bridgewater there's a single family component as well as a condominium component along many parts of jacaranda there's several multi-family developments this is highlighting around wimbledon drive in lauderdale west a lot of single family but also condominiums in the form of a duplex or quadruplex there's also several multi-family developments surrounding lauderdale west along university drive you'll see marcano estates but there's also villas of plantation lake point of jacaranda a little bit further south plantation hills canterbury area there's also dahlia townhomes and longwood village in the lakes of newport there's a component of single family but there's also condominiums and adjacent to that is the polo glen condominiums even in plantation harbor there's a port 53 townhomes surrounded by single family so for the housing element there's emerging needs and priorities including expanding and preserving affordable housing options to support aging in place and senior living options assisted living is an important issue senior housing supporting mixed income and transit oriented and infill housing development supporting accessory dwelling units where feasible continued coordination with briar county's housing master plan and continue to support programs from community development block grants and state housing initiative partnership programs for the city's aging housing stock and to continue to support modifications to the code to help reduce housing costs i wanted to talk a little bit about the process and the timeline so the typical process is shown here and normally it takes anywhere from one to three years to complete when you prepare a comprehensive plan it comes before the planning and zoning board for consideration the planning and zoning board makes a recommendation to the city council it's presented to the city council twice at the first reading the council authorizes the transmittal to the florida department of commerce the florida department of commerce then reviews the plan and approves or provides comments once it is authorized by the department of commerce to move forward the plan comes back to the city council for a second reading which is known as the adoption hearing so as i said it takes anywhere from one to five years to complete but plantation city council requested a slightly different process they wanted more opportunities for the public to weigh in before it became became before them for final consideration we hired a consultant in 2022 to help with data collection and analysis and initial development of the goals objectives and policies there was a comprehensive planning and land use workshop to discuss big picture concepts and the future direction of the city council members directed staff to proceed with developing the plan and obtain feedback from various boards and committees so these were all of the publicly advertised meetings that discussed the comprehensive plan going back to 2023 uh came before this board several times um but it went through sustainability affordable housing the midtown board the gateway board development review committee parks and recreation there was a joint workshop between the city council and the boards there were some amendments that we had to um process quicker that went through the state and got adopted at the city council there was another workshop here um in december of 2023 we did the unified flex zone and some amendments to future land use in 2024 there was a workshop here on may 20th of 2025 it came back six months later for with the completed document on november 18th of last year and it followed by a transmittal hearing at city council on december 3rd last year many of you have heard of about senate bill 180 and the concerns relating to that it was signed into law by governor de santos on july 1st of 2025 the basic premise is that any policies adopted by local government cannot be deemed more burdensome than the existing plans goals objectives and policies consequently when we send our draft comprehensive plan to the state they had some issues that they wanted us to amend or remove and that took several months to complete on may 22nd city received approval from the department of commerce to move forward for adoption on july 29th the city council public hearing there was discussion but it was tabled to address some items that were concerns from some residents on august 26th there was another public hearing council heard additional concerns from residents and tabled the item until september 9th uh again to october 21st to give the additional time for the public to read the published documents november 4th city council there was an update provided by staff pretty much where we are today and here is tonight where the planning zoning board is conducting this discussion to update the board and members of the public with an opportunity for the public to ask questions and november 18th was initially the adopt planned adoption date but is this is now tabled indefinitely bottom line is the document that's been public has actually been public for over a year now when it went first came to this board it was published in early november of last year there have been some changes but those are mostly reflecting the comments from the state so we have posted online on our website um it shows the 1989 comprehensive plan that we're is currently in effect and also has links to um the proposed plan the 2025 to 2045 update that we're talking about here we will continue to work on the revisions we will inform the public when those revisions are done and the documents will be ready for the public to review thank you thank you um just to make one thing clear with regards to questions and discussions the questions if you ask them will be recorded and responded to outside of this particular forum unlike what you witnessed with the variants where questions and answers were going back and forth this is just going to be a three minute comment period but if you do have any questions staff is open to answering them they will keep note of it your name will be on the record they will get back to you about it so um anything from the dais before we open it up to public comment all right in that case then when it comes to public comment as i said before it's three minutes per individual um i'm going to ask although i don't think the crowd's going to generate it this time but please refrain from clapping and all that if you really feel the need to to preach on it just give us like one of these asl happy signs um that would work otherwise if anybody does want to comment about the comprehensive plan now is your time to do so when you approach you'll have three minutes please state your name and your address anybody care to comment just come on up there are two coming from behind you ma'am so like they raised their hand first but just that's fine just wanted to make one comment before i come i'll go after everybody else but no no this was supposed to be a town hall question and answers why has it changed to comments now it was never yes it was i'm looking right here and it says a comprehensive plan discussion it does not say a comprehensive plan town hall it's not a town hall it's a discussion no it was we were told specifically it was going to be a town hall style question and answers who told you that we had you did ma'am if you would address me please because i'm the one who's asking you the question okay i was told by mr alpert and it was mentioned before online if you go and check i don't know exactly where i saw it but it was it was and i have other people in with me who also can um say that yes it was a town hall style question in fact mayor himself told me that too in fact the mayor's not here okay that doesn't matter first things first what is your name mumta ramitar and your address 1040 west tropical very well you have three minutes for coming i am not commenting now i just wanted to bring that up whoever wants to comment first unfortunately this is i understand fine you can go last yeah i'm sorry about that if you would name and address please my name is lou villidson i live at 140 west tropical way i'm the treasurer of the tropical way homeowners association but i am speaking here as an individual and i just wanted to clarify that the plan will be reviewed at five year intervals correct okay thank you yep come on up if y'all want to make a line kind of standing where mr alpert is that work too it's up to you good evening uh my name is john farquhar i live at 400 west tropical way where i've lived for the last 40 years i um would point out that the traffic is already very bad on broward university and some of the other adjoining streets especially between five and seven and i don't see how you're going to generate more roads and that's what you need to have more traffic so i think that the density in the area where you were showing the high density that's one thing if you are putting public transportation there that doesn't increase the transportation has been issues that the the transfer the traffic on university drive many years ago has been stated as being too heavy and the development plan permitted for it is more than it's adequate of carrying reasonable speeds and obviously if additional density is added i think that we should have basically adopted the prior plan if we can't adopt any more restrictions we should have kept all the restrictions that were in the existing plan and made it so that we the city of plantation except for a few areas is basically built out and we should not have any more population added because there's no real good way of adding roads to it the roads broward university sunrise these roads are all at capacity and the aesthetics of making it's one thing for the town center area that you're talking about to have high density the other areas were not designed to have high density i didn't buy a home here to have high density i bought a home on a golf course so i had low density and i had no low density around me then two shopping centers that i could walk to one of them there's discussion of removing which although it's not a wonderful shopping center it is a shopping center and it does serve the local residents putting in a ten eight-story buildings there does not stay with the primary in that area being single family homes and low density i don't really want to look at eight-story buildings from my backyard and i also don't want more traffic i don't think we should be looking for more traffic i think we should be looking for finding ways to keep the traffic as as neutral as it is it is bad enough at the moment thank you and i also want to point out that the public notices of this have been terrible i've been this is my third meeting that i've came to and every time except for once i only found out about the hearing from a neighbor or somebody the day of the hearing or before there is ways that people should get notices that i've sent an email to your interim planning director which i did get a response to but nobody bothers sending you an email or anything saying when the next meeting is going to be thank you just so you know all meetings are posted on the city calendar and the agendas go up about a week before the actual meeting occurs part of what i was talking about with regards to stakeholder involvement is that while you can't you can't always request or let me rephrase that you can't always expect the city to reach out and do everything for you your civic obligation if you are interested in something like planning and zoning is to go to the planning and zoning page that's located on the city and it's on the calendar and it happens the same day pretty much every month so i won't accept that as an actual excuse i would disagree and i think you have a lot more due if the city is taking the position they're trying to make it public and public notice and stuff they've done a very important that you can take up with the administration sir if you would name and address richard cabrera 1881 southwest 52nd avenue plantation harbor mr corlan you and i have some very different views uh different views i think residents in the city plantation have gotten better notice about rock in the park than about something as important as the comprehensive plan redo i wrote a letter mr albert was copied donna harris was copied mayor uh you know all the council people were copied there are elements in that com plan uh that are flawed okay your flight plan analogy doesn't cut the mustard okay plans you know things that occur before you take off and you have to follow that plan and that well if that plan is wrong which is what we have here then you're going to be in a lot of trouble the only element that i've been able to look at okay is the stormwater and what i would tell you is that 1974 and this is in my letter mr alford uh has a copy of 1974 was a year when everything changed in relationship to uh stormwater management okay all the development before that date uh you can look at the old plantation water control district map as you can see they actually color it blue for all the communities that have uh stormwater retention systems plantation parts of the other areas that were developed before 1974 to standards that were in place before that experiencing tremendous flooding in in the harbor this last week our streets were fine why because we have a 13 14 acre lake i had a copy of the permit that was issued that was uh emerson allsworth representative of the developer and you know it was issued back in 75 or 76 by house built in 79 um and so the city's stormwater master plan which proposes the and i don't know what the acronym is eru i think you're taxing everyone but the benefits are going to a select few who have who live in an area that does not have stormwater retention systems okay that is illegal there's validation in case law that establishes that if you know a certain area is not getting any of the benefits then they cannot pay any of the costs i'll be having to discuss it at a later time but i suspect that you know traffic it's the same deal the volumes are before 2020 water and sewer if you look at the director's letter of approval they he talks about yeah that's it okay well shut me off but i'm telling you i i'm aware and i'm also aware that you believe that i have no experience in any of this particular field i'm not an engineer but the issue well you have no idea what my car's transcript was so we can we can we can argue this after the highway i'm sorry have you designed storm drainage a storm water management system no but i can understand the rules because i've no i don't think you can i don't think you know the rules take a look at the old plantation water control district that they say in their permit manual that projects greater than two acres this is why this is why the plan gets changed every 20 years so that elements like this can be incorporated the plan is just the plan and all of those elements that you are discussing right now i trust that our staff is keeping current with the law and the regulations you can't look back at something that was built in 1974 and claim that it's illegal right now because it was legal when it was built it is what it is i'm not saying it's illegal it was built to other standards what we are here to discuss right now is the idea of a plan which covers how how we want the city to develop the and i'm extending my conversation beyond that to include a stormwater master plan that has been approved and i know that's not the topic of conversation that's not the topic of conversation which is why i'm going to ask you to sit down the plan the comprehensive plan talks about i understand what you are going to be approved in the future when in fact it's already approved i understand what you're saying i'm also asking you to sit down laurie bernardy 11681 northwest 6th street plantation acres good evening to all of you um as mr albert had pointed out earlier that some of us have been here not in planning and zoning but city council when the comprehensive plan first started out so we've been to many meetings we've listened and we expected that the people that were in place like planning and zoning mr albert and before him were all doing their jobs and doing the plan the planning the way it should be we didn't really take notice of the different issues that were going on and i think a lot of people that didn't show up at any of the meetings didn't take exception to anything until this building on 70th and broward boulevard came up that's where all the arguments started if the plan wasn't going on the same time that building was going on i don't think anybody would have taken notice about the comprehensive plan but because the units came up i want to thank everyone that now there's 25 units instead of the 50 going into the comprehensive plan my opinion now is just like the live local because of coming to all the meetings that i kind of understand the live local but i'm not that into like land and everything but to me the live local is sort of like what the way i see the um airbnbs are the state gives you this rule but we've kind of figured our way around some of the rules to make it work for us the live local yes it's a rule that they've put in place and you know some people say there's nothing we can do about it but i think there's a little bit of way that sometimes you can get around things to make it kind of work for you so i'm hoping that's what we can do with it but i just i want to see our city stay green i always hope that planning and zoning sees that and i think you do because we do have green the project on 70th and broward i don't think is going to go to the high rise that everybody's thinking it's going to go to maybe put a lake in there after we just saw the flood that all of us had to if something happens that they collect their own water like you're supposed to but i thank you for your time i thank for the presentations again because i do see you know every time i see it i do catch up on something else but thank you and have a nice evening keep up the good work thank you good evening board michael roth i am a resident of plantation acres my address is exempt by florida statute i didn't plan on speaking tonight but i i feel like somebody has to uh 45 years i've lived in this city and i've been coming to these meetings a lot of that time i've been to many planning and zoning council so on and so forth this is the most disgusting meeting i have ever been to i don't know if people are upset because we have opposing views or if because you have tendered your resignation you feel tonight like you should be more authoritarian than normal but this point of this meeting is not to lecture us on why we're wrong or why we didn't do enough to communicate what we want to our representatives who are supposed to be looking out for us we are not against multi-family homes and condos we don't need to didn't need to see a map of every condominium community in the city our issue is the high rises the high density development the traffic and the excuses we've been told for years the traffic the schools these it's the county's fault live local is the state's fault well if the county and the state are the problem then we need to grow some balls and do something about it and stand up to them this is not what the community wants i applaud the city for listening to the one aspect and reducing to 25 dwelling units an acre i believe that was one of the largest problems your guys's pipe dream that this is going to somehow only affect midtown in the gateway district and that you've contained it to that is complete and utter baloney because midtown is surrounded by pine island and university drive they're the only roads to go north and south and the only major road east of university drive to go north and south other than the turnpike which we can't get on from plantation is state road seven where the gateway district is you yourselves admit the level of service on these roads sucks we got a 15 million dollar grant coming to build a bridge to reduce traffic on university and pine island and you still want to justify some of these things and tell us we're wrong and then it's just the plan but then you put the senate bill up that says we can't have things in the plan and we can't make rules that are extra burdensome and that's why we don't want them in the plan and then we have the example of the beginning of this meeting tonight you guys don't stick to the plan those there are tons of high rises in midtown we're already above 25 dwelling units an acre we've made variances we make waivers we give away everything if we put it at 50 you're gonna go higher just like you let the gentleman build his things against code this is not what the people want and we don't have full time to pay the attention that everybody else pays we expect you to represent the residents thank you spencer sadkin 5641 southwest 6th street i also wasn't planning on speaking tonight but after hearing a couple of the others some of whom i've actually grown up with their children i've lived in plantation as i mentioned my whole life west plantation was pretty much undeveloped when i grew up as a kid watching what has happened in plantation harbor where my parents actually were flooded and prevented from getting their cars home last year was the first time in history that i can ever remember that happening so when we talk about the development water management will have to be part of because it's part of the overall infrastructure of development it is not the sole piece but it is part of the overall infrastructure driving down broward boulevard to try and get from my house to the gym that i go to three four times a week can take me about 15 minutes to a half an hour periodically to go one and a half to two miles so overall the development the density is a concern you're hearing that from every one of the residents who happens to be here someone also mentioned that the which frankly the only reason i was here tonight happens to be because of something that took place earlier i do hear about the rock in the park quite often i see it on facebook the the presentations are not nearly as prevalent for the city hall meetings i really don't have so much else thank you i i will agree with you on that and tell you that that's an administration issue not necessarily this committee uh john orbeck 6201 alma terrace uh mr corman i'm sorry i just heard uh i guess i had mr resignation i know yes i did not resign oh i'm sorry oh sorry well i i that's that's great um because i know that i believe you're tim fadgen's representative and while you and i have not seen eye to eye i do respect the effort that you put in on this board and i do certainly respect the time and effort that you have taken at every one of the planning and zoning meetings that i have attended and i know that you want the best for your city just like we want the best for our city just like hopefully everybody behind me wants the best for our city and so i do appreciate very much you trying to navigate us as a community through this comp plan amendment with regard to the comp plan amendment the only thing that i would ask is that i know that this has gone before to the midtown district and i would ask again if there's going to be changes of of of density that the midtown district be consulted on that um because i i was there uh in the past when when midtown who who i know wants wants that density um was presented a little bit of a different plan with regard to the plan overall and our city overall you know our city has a lot of blight in it i mean i think we've all seen the sears i know that the shopping center on broward is certainly a hot topic but both of those properties need to be something else they can't remain and i think that through the comp plan and through good conversations with this board city council and the development community we need to renew some of those facilities because every time i drive by that sears i ask myself the same question which is how long is it going to be like that and before that it was um plantation walk which was closed for many years and before that the fountains had had failed and had to be redeveloped so we're a community that needs to that that needs to renew ourselves and this comp plan is is a piece of the puzzle so let's get it done so that our community can be great again thank you please we said hampton 11460 northwest 8th street and i just want i just have one comment and it's on the live local act and interesting this is on the sun sentinel today and it is the life local act is flawed and needs fixing fort lauderdale vice mayor says and the vice mayor who had been an advocate of the live local act is opposed now is supposed after fort lauderdale having built eight live local projects they have they are now experiencing the the backs of the the all the issues that come with live local and is pledging to fight the live local act before and i guess it's inevitable we this is a mandate placed on us uh by the state uh that as a planning board as a city that we start listening to our residents nobody nobody nobody in the east of plantation nobody on the west of plantation nobody in fort lauderdale in hollywood want the live local act please uh do your part in making sure that it is correct before we enforce it thank you for your thank you and thank you to the city for listening to the to our residents and dropping the the 50 to the 25 um units per acre thank you thank you jay mcmillan west tropical way worked a lot of my american airlines flight plans now they weren't always correct told you much like this comp plan there's a few issues uh michael and lisa know my issues with the comp plan my difficulty is you all had an opportunity to review it and you approved it and a lot of the changes in section one that deal with lupus give relief to developers they no longer have to prove that the the zoning needs to be changed they can just you know this is something that needs to be done because well it's it's better for the city whereas before you had to show why it was better for the city what happened did we put a highway behind your your property you know did we cause a problem you know people who work for styles will come up here and tell you that midway needs to go back to 50 density well yeah if i worked for styles i'd tell you that too because i'm building apartments i managed marketplace i don't want to manage that i want to build an apartment on it i think that a lot of these things that went through this comp plan uh you all should have at least discussed the wording on them and tightened it up the state didn't cause this change we caused this change the existing comp plan had good wording on it that that forced developers to prove their need this new comp plan does not do that and they changed the wording we've changed the wording the city has and i and i think i'm sorry that you all proved that uh one of the things is um the change to gross um gross uh acreage for density we're now allowing half a road to count as gross gross acreage for the density uh i recently got my storm water bill and i'm just into tier four if i could get my canal behind my house use half of that 200 feet to apply to my storm water i'll go down to tier three and save 25 so why can't i use half of somebody else's land the city's land the roadway for my storm water if a developer can use half of the lake the canal the the street for his acreage that he doesn't buy he didn't pay for he he doesn't own that change should never have gone in it's not in the county it wasn't in our existing plan it's just been added in and that's it please read the documents and help us out thanks thank you fly american i appreciate that i guess another american guy uh 1941 southwest 74th terrace you guys are doing a great job the administration isn't we need a better notification of what's going on in our city i found out about this whole acreage thing on facebook of all places i mean really uh first meeting i came was in august that's when we convinced the council to postpone voting on the plan august 31st i sent an email each and every commissioner one commissioner responded sent it to the director to get my questions answered that was the first no september 3rd oh yeah we postponed the meeting till october never got my responses to my questions it's a great thing that we're going to 25 because broward county that's i think what they require no need to go 20 to 50. i moved here in 2012 before one plantation went up now i got a building in my backyard right across the street in norlean villas you guys cannot build buildings over five feet i rented at the mill west park for a year officer back there probably tell you how many times you get a call for that building weed smoking car thefts this live where you work does not work one of my thing there's a few things i got a lot of questions that i sent in that email not one was responded one of them is in the plan you're going from 4.5 acres to four acres per thousand why are we reducing our park sizes and that's the ratio you're taking out policy flu zero one alpha dot zero three dot one six which relates to general shopping centers and businesses being located at intersections so what are we going to start having business centers everywhere uh another question you had a etc institute did a major study august and presented it august 26 2026 the number one complaint traffic and you want to put more buildings up that disaster that took over the fashion mall all those apartment buildings that's a disaster is it nice yes but it should have been less populated there's way too many apartments in there thank you thank you gordon wigan west tropical way i just wanted to say a few things uh regarding the comp plan so our last comp plan was 1989 so when i don't know when they said that you had to do it every 20 years so the leeway i'm going to give you know the whole city is that if we haven't done one in 35 years it's a long gap i would expect mistakes to happen and they do also maybe there was a little bit too much reliance on certain groups or maybe they just didn't know what they were reading when they were looking at it it's a lot of information in that but the more you research it and you study and you start looking at other cities and their comp plans i think miramar has a comp plan that has 3 000 pages i can only imagine what's in that one but the other thing that we've been doing is we've been going to other cities and asking questions on what they're doing and not aware of other comp plans but i'm going to give an example today that i just saw in fort and around the fort lauderdale golf course i saw the city's city workers there and fort lauderdale has their main water pipelines that go to the water processing plant on 441 and i said hey uh are those pipes original when they were put in he goes yes and he said they need to be replaced so the reason why i'm bringing that up is because that's where we want to do sewage drainage or drainage for uh for stormwater because there's a lot of old pipes in that area that's the point but anyway every city is having these issues of over building and ignoring the infrastructure and we can't do that anymore so the comp plan when it was put together it didn't have enough emphasis on infrastructure it basically was just for building more and getting more units in here and that was the biggest flaw i saw in the cop plan i don't expect or we don't expect perfection but we pers we we want you guys to put effort all the time and you guys have to a certain degree but we're going to start coming here more we're going to get more people here hopefully more people involved to understand that we do have to be involved with you guys to make this work i think we've proved that over the last three months so we're going to keep coming and we're going to hopefully be able to work on the city as a whole because when we're all involved it does get better i think you agree with that okay that's all i got thank you thank you good night my name is lisa bentley i'm a long time plantation resident um i'm a person who has a doctorate in pharmacy uh i have followed state and federal law and i pay enormous attention to details and mathematical calculations would you be in favor and speak into the microphone a little bit more okay so do you want to start the time over there you didn't hear me just okay pick up where you are okay fine i'm just saying that as a doctor having a doctorate in pharmacy that i follow state and federal law and i pay enormous amount attention to details and mathematical calculations and i'm telling you that this comprehensive plan is full of errors it's not a scrivener error as mr albert has said um we found 209 errors 15 of them were considered typos 48 citation errors which are couldn't be considered clerical but there's still 148 errors left so when we talk about there's 14 florida laws 12 map errors 18 missing policies there's a lot of different things going on in the plan now the chief administrator officer um mr newman warned the city council that if we sacrifice infrastructure again it will put the city in a perilous state and from that i've noticed that going back through september minutes that a million dollars in collapsed pipes and culverts have been repaired in our city in the last two years and council member denise horland did say that the there's a significant deferred maintenance my problem is why are we approving all of these apartment buildings two to three times the comprehensive plan i've gone through all the calculations since two to three times you're looking at a 2045 population here roughly in seven to ten years is anyone paying attention to that uh mr law attorney richard grosso came to a city council meeting and he said and he warned be careful what you add now under today's law if the plan gives developers more density and looser rules the city may not be able to tighten them again later unless the senate bill the sb 180 is repealed he also said enforcing the rules you already have which is still a legitimate way to protect residents we just want you guys to be protecting the residents and thinking about us we already just went through a huge flood in our area and we know that there's a lot of being a lot of pipes are very old 550 plus years and we are a place that have hurricanes and you have to think about that plus all this infrastructure i think that a lot of this in the comp plan needs to be fixed thank you before i start i wanted to show the plantation city memorandum that said could you just give me your name and address my name is mom ter amatar and i want to don't stop my meeting yet i'm going to just show the proof of city memorandum that says this is going to be a town hall style meeting can i see it all i see is a dark screen oh no i saw that letter but stand by mind if i read it yeah this says a town hall type discussion will be scheduled it doesn't say anything about question and answer ma'am to the podium please no very disrespectful for the residents here all right now you can stop my three minutes can you start your time over please i'm going to talk about the timeline may 2022 the city informs the state the city informed the state that our plan required a full update due to change local conditions and promised a complete to complete it within a year before 2023 the state law encouraged cities to update plans for change local condition it was an option it was optional may 5th on 2023 the governor signed a new law the requirement to update for local conditions change from encouraged to shell and that includes a full state coordinated review may 31st 2023 the city sent the state a small amendment with only three tax changes a new property right element and updated school level of service standard in the public school facility element and the name and the same school update in the capital improvements no map changes no update for changed local conditions even though the city had asked the state that you wanted an update for local changed conditions july 1st 2023 the new shell law took effect which was a full coordinated review requirement july 28 2023 the state told the city its plan was now required to have updated planning period and that its map relied on out of date sources august 23 2023 53 days after the law changed council adopted that three change amendment without any of the state's fixes the city's consultant who was paid over a million dollar by the way tax money the city's consultant promised those fixes for early 2024 2024 to today those fixes never came november 18 2025 the board recommended approval of the full rewrite six to zero with no public comment while utilities and engineering were still doing final reviews may 2022 2026 the state reviewed it under expedited review the state flagged 36 policies under sb 180 and the city deleted them including traffic impact analysis and school conferences for plants first why is a complete rewrite of our comp plan going through expedited review when the 2023 amendment was adopted 53 days after the law made the update mandatory without the state's required fixes will this board recommend the state coordinated review second on what data did the board base six to zero recommendation again this was a town hall style and you are limiting us to three minutes while we can't even address all of our questions how many questions do you have another five minutes will you do me a favor and just read them into the records that we have it and somebody can get back to you with the answers thank you number two what day i did the board base it's six to zero recommendation when the plan uses two different 2045 population 2020 pandemic traffic counts and has no storm water master plan third fire and ems gets one general sentence while the city answered a record 12 362 fire and rescue calls in fiscal year 2025 with the same six stations since 2016 what capacity did the board rely on four on august 18 this board recommended approval of the market plantation marketplace land use amendment at 652 units on what basis did the board find roads drainage and schools carry it traffic drainage fire and ems and schools have been addressed before have have been addressed before approving more multi-story apartment buildings residents best interest in protecting our city must come first on leave local some people have questions on that i understand the city cannot opt out but the law gives the city lawful tools leave local projects must meet the city's land development regulations and be consistent with the comprehensive plan other than density height and use next to single family neighborhoods the city may height may limit height and the live local law itself recognizes storm water flooding drinking water sewer capacity as legitimate limits those tools only work if this plan has real infrastructure standards and current data so i have a few more questions on marketplace on august 18th that's not relevant to this well it's relative because it's it's actually not because that's a specific development project as opposed to the topic of this which is the comprehensive plan but the comprehensive plan they were saying the loop was it's important that you address this because it's very important for you can send that as a separate email i would like for everybody to know this everyone that's present here is interested it does not apply okay however i'm not going to permit the questions about marketplace because marketplace is not part of this discussion this is not just marketplace this is about the comp comp plan that relates to pandemic traffic pandemic traffic counts no stormwater master plan one cent and you all voted for it so i want to address this because everyone here present is against marketplace um construction yes but if you could make marketplace out of your question all right i'll try i'll accept it otherwise it is not relevant to this conversation so you don't want people to know no that's not it marketplace will take place at a marketplace shouldn't be addressed when it's related to the comprehensive plan it's not related to the comprehensive plan i'm saying it is related because i've done my research okay but i'm telling you it's not relevant to this conversation about okay people here you guys know okay so the market um no marketplace this was based our comprehensive plan has 2020 pandemic traffic counts no storm water plan and one sentence firing ems and no school coordination okay so on what basis does the board finds that roads drainage fire and ems and schools can carry all that stuff um you asked that question already yeah i know because every word every question i have it mentions marketplace here so i can't go keep going on okay thank you any other comments public comments uh no you already spoke sorry only one one bite of the apple didn't ask for it when you were up there woman behind you though has not spoken she can come on it my name is cynthia pombo i live at 5620 southwest fifth street i just have a few questions and you don't have to answer them now i'm sure hopefully i'll get an answer another time i want to know how does affordable housing helps the residents that currently live here that was mentioned several times in the presentation i don't think that helps us at all you we already very overpopulated there's traffic everywhere roads are flooded everywhere i wanted to raise my boy here and i wanted him to raise these kids here i don't think it's going to be possible in the future thank you any other questions or comments from the public comments are closed anybody on the dais have anything they want to add to this discussion bravo sir bravo vicky go ahead we all live in this city we are not paid to be here we are not paid to be told that we don't know what we're talking about and we don't appreciate the the animosity that comes across because we're volunteering our time believe me my time is worth more money than what they don't get paid here and i i love my city i come to this council meetings i've been coming to them for years and i see faces here for a few people that show up all the time and then i see faces of people that i've never seen before so if you have a problem with the city and you have a problem with the comp plan we're here to listen but we're not here to make a decision for you the departments that are available are they're always available they may not be available the moment you call but they will call you back including the council members will call you back they attend our meetings also so don't say that we don't know what we're doing because maybe we don't but most of the time we do and i commend rob for being up on this dais for as many years and taking some of the crap that is given to him so let's try and remember that we're all in plantation we all have traffic problems we all have overcrowding of this we all have places that we don't want to look at like the sears mall and we all have play i showed up eight nine years ago because they were building a high-rise building and the traffic was going to affect me wonder how many people helped me out on their project close your eyes and that's what you'll see i did it on my own so instead of bullying each other bullying us telling us we don't know what we're talking about work with us instead of against us and i do love my city thank you before i close it i'm just going to emphasize one more thing i said it before i'll say it again the comp plan is a plan there's only one element of it that truly carries force of law otherwise it is a guideline guidelines are to be upheld or ignored by your elected officials those elected officials will point people to certain boards everybody up here has been appointed by somebody that means that when we are talking we are talking as residents who are serving the city we were not elected the people who make the final decision are city council and the administration so when i was talking about a flight plan what i meant was that it is a plan it is a plan that gets you from point a to point b those plan elements are guides the actual execution of it happens with the development and the developers have to follow the code the law and the law is what dictates how things get built and the people who sit on the dais at city council meetings are the ones who have the final authority i understand everybody here has some measure of anger directed towards either the dais right now or me in particular i get it but that is because i'm trying to make something very clear your anger while it is warranted is misdirected so yes send those questions i guarantee you that the way i know staff cares about this they will address them they're not going to send the document with those errors in it even if those errors are in it they can be corrected at a later time the issues of development and redevelopment in the city though are separate beasts so please keep your eye on the ball when you were talking about the difference between a comp plan and a development project do we have any other business before the council uh when is the next meeting december 15th maybe december 15th all right with that at 12 8 16 meeting is adjourned