LTC 83-2003CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No.
To:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez I r~
City Manager V~
101 Ocean Drive - Bentley Beach
Exterior Lighting
Date: March 31, 2003
Recently, residents of the apartment building at 121 Ocean Drive notified the City of significant
problems being experienced by the intensity of the exterior lights at the first level of the soon to be
completed Bentley Beach project.
According to the Building Department, there is no code under which the Bentley Beach can be
legally cited under, as this is considered a nuisance and the Building Code does not address the
issue. The Code Compliance Division was also unable to issue a violation or enforce corrective
action because the City Code does not have a section dealing with excessive light or illumination.
The plans for the subject lighting fixtures were approved by the City as part of the Building Permit for
the project, inclusive of the location, type and candle watt power. These lights were installed for
security purposes. The Building and Planning Departments did not realize that the lighting fixtures
would expose the neighboring residents of 121 Ocean Ddve to such an extent of illumination.
Consequently, City Staff will be meeting with representatives of the project to try and resolve this
issue. The City is committed to reducing the impact of the illumination of these fixtures through a
dense landscape buffer or by the replacement of the lights with a different type that does not bleed
onto the neighboring property. The landscape plan proposed for the north side of the Bentley Beach
property is fairly dense and may reduce the impact of the lights on the residents of 121 Ocean Drive.
If it does not, the Citywill work with the developer's contractor to replace the existing fixtures with
lights that are less intense.
If you have any questions relative to this matter, or require additional information, please contact me.
JMG:CMC:JGG:TRM
F:\PLAN\$ALL\CM_RESP\bentleybeachLIGHTS.Itc.doc
C:
Christina Cuervo, Assistant City Manager
Bob Paroher, City Clerk
Murry Dubbin, City Attomey
Gary Held, Assistant CityAttomey
Jorge G. Gomez, Planning Director
Thomas R. Mooney, Design and Preservation Manager
Kevin Perkins, Planning Department