Wynwood Design Review Committee - Regular Meeting

Wynwood Design Review Committee - Regular Meeting — January 13, 2026 - 10:01 AM

testing testing testing testing into our agenda? [Pledge of Allegiance] Fantastic. Thank you all very much. Do we need to read the lobbyist note before the roll call? [Listing names] Wonderful to have you. Thank you. This is the first time, I can recall, that we've got a full house. Wonderful to see the process work. Thanks. Tricia? >> Any person who is a lobbyist must register with the City Clerk and comply with. The requirements. A person MAY not lobby until registering. A copy of the code section is available at the City Clerk's office or online. Any person MAY be heard for not more than two minutes on any proposition unless modified by the chair. Public comment MAY happen on MiamiGov. Com to submit online comments. The comments submitted if any have distributed to the committee. This is included as part of the public record. The online public comment will remain open. Additionally, the member of the public must state his/her name and address and item spoken abiout. Ut. Ard members have been briefed by city staff. The meeting will be live and have closed captioning. >> Okay, I believe request for absence waivers. Are there any? >> There are none at the present moment. >> Minutes approval for our DECEMBER 16 meeting -- motion assuming there are no questions/comments. Can I have a motion for the approval of those minutes. >> Move to [Too far from mic]. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor -- ? Okay. >> Just for clarification, [Talking too quietly]. Since I was not here at the last meeting, I assume I don't vot4e. > Have you received the minutes? >> No. >> That's fine not to. Kathy is abstained. I believe we basically have approval of those minutes. Let me just get my notes. Fore we head into the resolutions, we have a forntate first-time situation. Our alternative is in attendance. That's great. It raises a fair but important question. Should the alternate participate in the dialogue of the meeting that they are in attendance at and vote in the process of that or do they sit strictly as an alternate. Staff, Patricia will speak to guidance on that. >> So, this committee is made up of 7 -- the committee officially is 6 members with one alternate. Okay. If all 6 are present, the alternate is not necessary. In my previous life, when I had to make this decision as the attorney for a board. My theory was this -- if I had [Unclear], I had no issues with the alternate remaining. [Talking too quietly], so that was my guiding way of doing it. >> We have quorum today. Even though we MAY have a quorum, it's only if there's a missing member that the alternate would have vote-in motion. Capabilities. >> Otherwise, if it was all 6 members here and the alternate was here, they are fully -- they can be fully engaged in the dialogue and the participation up to the vote. >> My other theory was that was -- okay, I have quorum now. What happens if 4 or 3 of you -- something happens and you get up at the same time. [Teacher asking questions. >> Do we need to motion that to put it on record? >> No. >> Fantastic. Jared, I hope you brought your helmet. You go in the game today. Since Miguel is absent, you are under the conditions that Patricia outlined. Today, you can also participate in voting as well. >> There's no onlihne public omment. Can we please close that. >> Close the public comment? >> Please. >> My apologies. I missed that. Motion to course public omment. No motion needed/ oik. Y, as CHAIRMAN, we will close public comment. >> Thank you. >> Sorry about missing that. With that preamble, I will flip it back over to Ricky and Andreas to tee up the resolution for this session. >> Item number 18715, [Talking the chair. We are going to start with 18715, which is the vice chair. >> I believe 18716 is the vice chair. >> Thank you. 18716. >> Very good. >> Just before we jump into that, I understand there MAY be a couple options we have for this. These are not in any order. We can maintain the vice chair that presently exists through the 2026 sessions. Another option is to entertain a motion. To appoint a new vice chair. If I stated that correctly, I believe I have, then we can pout it over to the committee members for a discussion of those two options or other questions and ideas. Kathy? >> I have absolutely no problem retaining the chair and vice chair. [Repeating] >> Oik. . We will take those in 2 bits. . Kathy is voicing her support of staying with the curnt Anybody else? Miguel! Bless your heart. We'll step back and make sure we log you in. It's great to have you. Jared, I think your voting status just got bumped. So, back to the agenda item 18716. Do we have a motion regarding the election of vice chair? >> I move to keep the vice chair as is. >> Do we have a second to that motion? Ay, Zion has moved and Heidi has seconded. Can I call for a vote? All in favor of maintaining the existing vice chair? >> Aye. >> It's unanimous. Congratulations, Allen. Glad to have you hanging around. Fantastic. Let me get that. The next item will be 18715 and I believe I should pass the gavel on that at this stage to let the conversation continue. Would I pass that to the vice chair? Okay. Alan, you can lead us on 18715, the election of a chair for 2026. >> Certainly. The recommendation to maintain the chair for 2026 was mentioned earlier, so I move to vote to maintain our current chair into 2026. Can I have someone make a motion? >> I'll move that Tom Dunlap be retained as CHAIRMAN For the next year. >> All in favor. >> Aye. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay, with that case, 18715 Tom you're back. >> Thanks. Ank you. Okay, just taking a minute to get our paperwork in order here. Take a second to loop back and make sure we have our attendance in order as well on our rainy day, first start of the year. Superb. With apologies to the staff, if I haven't stomped all over the agenda so far we are up to 18688. >> Item 3, 18688. Project name, 2826 North Miami Avenue. Location, Old San Juan, transect zone t68-officer. Cation type is adaptive reuse. Specific to zones t5 architectural standards, art or glass treatment shall be approved by the planning director with the recommendation of the Wynwood Design Review Committee. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> I am the officer of International Midtown, the company owner of this place. It's a place located at 2826 North Miami Avenue. We are in the process of improving the space because it's under an unsafe structure and we've been for more than a year in the Miami building department going through all the requirements. We are almost done with all the requirements to be able to start the improvement of the building. We've had a lot of obstacles but we passed most of them. We've been required to put an elevator inside because there's an upper level. It's a small level but we're going to install a small elevator because it's required. The reason we are here is because we learned that there are two things, either one or the other, that we have to have. The front of the place with at least 75% glass or have it designed with an artist approved by Wynwood to have graffiti there. We are doing this improvement to have a safe building so we can rent it, and we don't have a specific tenant yet. So the idea when we presented this to the city was let's prepare a good, healthy building so any tenant can come and do whatever concept they want, whether it be a restaurant or retail store. We are doing. A plain shell so we can rent it to whoever wants to rent it. The reason we're here, I don't know if I can connect my computer, but we cannot do 75% glass because inside against the wall there's a stairway that goes to the upper floor. So, as we have the stairway we cannot put glass there. And the other idea of the graffiti, we wanted to have it presented plain white so that the tenant who comes can have their certificate of occupancy with whatever they want to do. We have to do it as plain as possible so a tenant can come and have it for the intended use they want. That's the reason I need to connect the computer, so that everybody can see. [Unclear] You can consider us having it white and plain and once we have a tenant they will come and do the use that they want and that will be approved. I don't know if you have any questions. It's my first time here so I don't know the process. >> I have just one comment to Loliwe up. The drawings you're showing are different than the packet submitted. The packet has art and you're here today for the Wynwood Design Review Committee to approve the art. If you remove the art it's not code compliant. >> It's not what, sorry? >> If you're not providing the glass, joint angle the accuracy 're here today so they can give you their opinion. >> Yes, thank you. >> Tell us about what you submitted, which had some sort of rendering on it. >> Yes, let me look for it. We did a generic rendering in order to be able to come here to request this specific request of having it plain white. I'll look for it. >> I guess we all saw it. It was-right. So, the question is, you don't intend to do that and it was just a generic thing you put there just to come. >> Correct. >> She explained that it's either one or the other so we can give a recommendation on how to move forward. So, the next question is, are you currently under permit and you were kicked over to the wdrc as a condition for approval for your permit? >> Correct. And we've been, as I said, we've been more than a year with the improvement process of the building because of the unsafe structure and 40 year recertification. It's a very complex project. In all this time, we've been putting money, money for the plans. >> Right. This is the recommendation so that you can get approval today, is a suggestion. You submitted a rendering that makes sense with what I've seen in the past that gets approved here. What you could say is something like this. You could say, "We intend to put a mural on this project. We haven't chosen it and the mural conceptually falls within the parameters of the Wynwood Design Review Committee. We still haven't received an artist but this is the kind of art we intend to do as the owner of the building. " When you say you're going to have a tenant come in at some point, as an owner it's almost always better to have the owner select the artwork. If a dentist moves in there they could come in as the tenant and you as the owner can say you approve it, the. Drc has to review it and then you paint over the mural you currently have. As a condition for approval today you can say you're looking for an artist and this is the typology of art you're looking to do. That way you don't lose time with your permit process. >> To clarify, having it plain white is not an option? >> Yeah. >> To Zion's point, you cannot go plain white, period. And you as the building owner will always be the one subject to the final resolution at the city. So whether it's this mural or a different version, different colors-maybe the. Color palette is different but for you to get your certificate of occupancy the building will need to be in line with where it is located in the wdrc. >> I've worked on several buildings in Wynwood and my experience with all white and all Black buildings is they end up getting tagged by graffiti artists but the moment you put a mural on it, they respect the mural and pass by. My clients will end up calling me and saying, "I got a violation for the city for graffiti" and then they get $500 a day violations. Plain white, even I it was approved, it becomes an issue for you because you have to keep it from being spray painted. >> And a question. If we say today we haven't decided which artist and art we'll have but we're in the process of selecting, that would get us approved today, but for how long? Or we're not going to have the city permit until we choose? >> For me, I would give you an approval today contingent that the typology of the design is similar to what's on this but I can't speak to the rest here. >> It MAY be a more technical answer from staff for how long the approved mural is good for. >> Thank you. I was going to get to that. You could get an approval with conditions today, and that condition will be attached to the building permit. Then, we can condition the approval saying before tco you need the art. The design can change but it has to follow the artist guidelines of the area. It's like a placeholder and you're subject to the area, but your artist will have to design the mural. >> That allows me to move forward with the building process? >> Yes. >> It's a condition. Yeah. >> Another question, because we proposed something generic but do you have a place where we can select more that is going to be approved by the Wynwood board? Do you have specific colors, artists, a guideline? Or is there something we can base it on? >> There is no guidelines with projects with refraction, there is a guideline explaining what's Wynwood art and that has been uploaded to your building permit application. >> Okay, design guidelines. [Unclear. ] >> [Spanish] We would like to move forward if you can approve it. We'll do art in accordance with the guidelines of the Wynwood board but we need time to choose and to make sure that we are in accordance with the style that we are going to put under your guidelines. >> I'm just not sure I understood, I'm sorry. Are we-are you asking us to recommend authorizing the proposal as presented so that you can move along and then return should there be any changes, recommended changes, prior to getting your final? >> That's the way I understood it. >> Do you understand the difference? >> Yes. >> Right now if you move forward, if you pick another artist what you'd have to do if you pick another artist other than the rendering, you should first come back to get preapproval to get the artist replace what we're approving today. >> I understand. Meanwhile, I am following the building process so that I can move forward with the approval of the permit for construction. Because as it is an unsafe structure, I have a timeline and have to hurry. I came for extensions but I don't know if I have another extension. >> I apologize. When was the last time you wet to unsafe structures? >> NOVEMBER 7, 2025. Ah. >> I make a motion to approve the renderings shown in her proposal and if they are contingent that if they are changed that she come back and present the new design. All in favor? >> Do we have a second on that motion? >> All in favor. >> Aye. >> Thank you. We know it's African American cess. >> Thank you. >> We'll all get our paint brushes and join you at the mural. >> Thank you. >> Okay, board members. Our next item is our first discussion, which is 18720, the 2026 global calendar. I sent this out some time ago and hopefully you've had an opportunity to review it. We actually already voted on it, if memory serves me correctly. These four items here are housekeeping items that we have to go over at the beginning of the year. So, if you guys want to discuss the calendar you can. Otherwise, we can move on to the next item. Any questions regarding the 2026 calendar? It's the same meeting date, the second ts >> The second Tuesday of every month at City Hall. >> Is that clear to everybody? >> The next discussion item is the 2026 wdrc annual training. >> The annual training usually happens in AUGUST in between JULY and SEPTEMBER meetings. We try to keep the same date, the second Tuesday of the month. [Talking too quietly] Reach out with dates to see when you're available. Do we agree AUGUST is the right month to Derek? >> This is more of a high-altitude -- I apologize if you said this. The work going on incurred with this -- >> Vision plan? >> Yeah, uyeah. Did you refer to that? >> No, this is for the annual training of the wdrc. It's a wider scope. We will talk about the vision plan during that meeting for sure. It's about the purview and the ethics training. It toucheso. N everything -- attendance, legislation, projects in their nwood area. Once we engage with, we will , we will reach out to underjaw >> That's great. It occurred to me managing their timeline and schedule. That would be a great report out date. >> You're definitely one of the community groups. Once Thayer are Eady. O start, they should reach out. >> Super. >> Okay, the next item is the wdrc rules and procedures. I assume we will cover that in the AUGUST meeting. Along with the fourth one, the ethics refresher. Awesome. That takes care of our discussion items. If everybody is fantastic and ready to stay dry, we can get an adjournment. >> No questions otherwise? Motion for adjournment? >> Move to adjourn. >> Second. >> I believe we are adjourned. Thank you. >> Thank you.