Saturday, October 4, 2008

Naming Names Herald-style -Beach One Resort Hotel in Hollywood Passes Round One


June 2008 Artist rendering of aerial view of Beach One Resort, Hollywood, FL
Carlos A. Ott, Architect from submitted documents to the City of Hollywood Development Review Board. September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

This was NOT intended to be an accurate representation of all beach properties along that part of State Road A1A, since SIAN is missing from it, but rather an attempt to show what the general area heights were, with the Westin Diplomat a few blocks to the north and the three condo towers of The Beach Club in HB a block to the south.

The newest proposal by Beach One Resort is 130 feet/ten stories shorter than their original one.

Hollywood Beach Eyesore Continues to Grow
The view of the neighborhood nuisance as seen on April 3rd, 2008 at Hallandale Beach Blog.
My frustration with this longstanding situation on State Road A1A, which lasted for years, led me to placing this photo front and center on my blog for quite some time.


While I was obviously pleased to see that a slit-fence was finally installed there a few weeks ago in August, and even more pleased to see the 25-foot mound of dirt removed, frankly, I never really got the reasonable answer I was looking for from the City of Hollywood about why there wasn't one to begin with, and why that property seemed to have special rules that applied to it, despite how self-evident the problem was.
Honestly, could it have been more evident?


A few times, I spotted City of Hollywood building inspectors in front of the Crowne Plaza -before it officially opened- and walked over to inquire if they knew anything about what was going on with all the dirt that had been flying around the neighborhood for at least 18 months.
Sad to say, their customer service skills couldn't have been worse -un-friendly and un-professional.


Dudes, when you park your City of Hollywood car right on the sidewalk, forcing everyone in the neighborhood to actually have to walk out into the street with traffic, the least you could do is keep the bad work attitude to yourself.
For what it's worth, I did manage to snap a few quick photos of these nominees for Hollywood city Employees of the Month with the bad attitudes.
But I decided not to "out" them by posting their photos months ago, though I could've, since I know they'd have claimed they were "misunderstood," always the last refuge for bad govt. employees.


No, actually, I didn't misunderstand, I just wrote down what you said, the day and time, your license plate tag info, and a general description of you.
That way, in the future, if I see you in the Hollywood City Hall Commission chambers, I can stop, pivot, and segue into your actions and call you out in front of your colleagues as a jerk.
Don't thank me, it'll be my pleasure.


In August of 2007, I finally got so frustrated with the situation that I went to Hollywood City Hall myself, and after describing why I was there, I got the opportunity to speak with someone about it in the Planning Dept.
I asked questions about the property and why it seemed so impervious to the usual rules that apply to areas like that prior to construction, since by then, it had been about 10 months without any slit-fencing of any kind, even while the mound of dirt had grown to be at least 25 ft. high, which was not really what the neighbors next door at SIAN and elsewhere signed up for in the way of beach culture.


Despite my various efforts, it would be almost an entire year before the slit-fence was erected.
For the record, as I've written many times here, though this property has been a neighborhood nuisance for both Hollywood and Hallandale Beach residents for quite some time, when Mayor Joy Cooper obliquely referred to it at the joint HB-Hollywood City Commission meeting I attended in June, from my perspective and that of many others, that was THE first time Cooper ever referred to it publicly, despite it having been a self-evident problem since at least November of 2006.


Mayor Peter Bober -whom I'm a supporter of- wasn't elected mayor of Hollywood until March of this year, so honestly, how could it be that Mayors Cooper and Mara Giulianti and City Managers Mike Good and Cameron Benson could all have ignored something that large at one of the busiest intersections in southeast Broward for so long? 
And at the beach, no less!
Do you really have to ask?


Well, at least there's a new sheriff in town in Hollywood who's interested in accountability and transparency, which is more than can be said in Hallandale Beach.

More comments following the Miami Herald article.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood high-rise wins key backing
By Breanne Gilpatrick
October 2, 2008


Hollywood city commissioners tentatively approved a key zoning change Wednesday for a proposed 41-story ocean-side hotel set to join other high-end high-rises near the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach border.


Developers for Beach One Resort sought the change to allow them to build a 477-room hotel on the 1.59-acre parcel at the northeast corner of South Ocean Drive and Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
Once completed, the hotel will join Hollywood's Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, the three-tower Beach Club condo complex in Hallandale beach and other high-rises in the area. Commissioners said the project blends well along the southern stretch of Hollywood beach dominated by luxury hotels and condominiums.


''I love this project,'' Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan said.


"It's beautiful, and I appreciate that you did look to the Diplomat and you did look at what we already have and it complements that area beautifully.''


Original plans called for a 549-foot-tall building with 51 stories.


But developers worked with the city to lower the height by more than 130 feet, bringing the building in line with the other hotels along that portion of Hollywood beach.


Earlier this year, some beach residents told the city's Planning and Zoning Board that they thought developers were trying to build too much on the parcel and worried the 418-foot-tall building would cast a shadow over the beach.
But the reaction Wednesday was largely positive.
''It's perfect for our community,'' Hollywood beach resident Joe Joynt said.
Because the property sits outside the boundaries of Hollywood's Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, any property tax revenue generated by the project would flow into the city's budget.
-----------------------
I will have much more to say about the particulars of this project over the next week, as well as lots of details about that Hollywood City Commission meeting that the local media have failed to report or mention, but I wanted to post this information before any more time slipped by.


I attended the Sept. 11th Development Review Board hearing in Hollywood on the Beach One Resort project and attended this past Wednesday afternoon's Hollywood City Commission meeting on it, the first of their two meetings on the proposed 41-story hotel, which will be just north of the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on State Road A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd.


This past Tuesday night, I sent out an email to some local South Florida public policy folks of my acquaintance whom I knew had an interest in the project, and what it might represent for Hollywood, asking for as many of them as possible to attend the meeting so they wouldn't be hearing rumors and scuttlebut and could contribute some thoughts.


My thinking all along was that many people initially liked The Radius project on Young Circle, too, but we know what everyone thought once it was actually built, don't we?


Where's that curvilinear aspect to it that would have prevented it from feeling like it's going to topple over on top of you, like a top-heavy model or Playmate, when you walk across the street to the Starbucks.


The curvilinear aspect is something that was added to the WSG project on the southeast corner of Young Circle a few months ago, and is one that will be immediately noticeable about the Beach One Resort, also, something that, if executed properly, will help it become a real iconic property in South Florida.


(As opposed to those South Florida real estate projects elsewhere that bastardize the meaning of the word because their dopey PR folks can't think of another name for ugly and tall, so they call it iconic. As if.)


It holds great promise for being a signature location for Hollywood, a visible landmark for decades to come that shapes visitors first impressions of the city, while also being the embodiment of that ideal that Bernard Zyscovich has spoken about with regard to the area south of Young Circle, i.e. a tangible and visible entryway into the city, to give it a sense of place.
Still, as you can tell from my comments accompanying some photos I've snapped over the past few months of the area, I do have a real fear about the shadows that will be cast upon HB's already tiny beach in the afternoon.
Design, specs, renderings at: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/docdepotcache/00000/812/PO-2008-20.PDF

You can watch a replay of Wednesday's meeting online at: http://www.hollywoodfl.org/city_clerks/meetings_webcast.htm
That's right, you can watch the whole thing, about ninety minutes, complete with graphics on the screen so you can actually follow it at home -unlike the case in Hallandale Beach.
You can even see the running time so you know that when X,Y or Z was said or done, you can tell someone about it and they can find that exact moment.
Imagine that? Graphics and running time and everything.


Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach has COMCAST Channel 78, which might as well be running a test pattern, since it has no information onscreen during HB City Commission telecasts to let you know where they are in the proceedings.
--------------------
PO-2008-20 - Ordinance First Reading
An Ordinance Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Waiving The 10 Acre Minimum Acreage Requirement For A Planned Development; Changing The Zoning Designation Of The Property Generally Located At 4111 South Ocean Drive From C-1 (Commercial Low Intensity) To PD (Planned Development District);
Allocating Up To 238 Bonus Hotel Density Rooms From The "Hollywood Beach Hotel Room Pool";
Approving The Planned Development (PD) Master Development Plan For The Subject Property
(Hereinafter Known As "Beach One Resort Planned Development Master Plan"); And Amending The City's Zoning Map To Reflect The Change In Zoning Designation. (05-ZJ-21)


September 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking east towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower from Hallandale Beach Blvd.


September 28, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking northwest from Surf Road in Hallandale Beach towards the Beach One Resort lot, whose fence currently is sporting a Dotty Ross for HB City Commission campaign sign, which will no doubt come as news to the owner. In the past two years, that exact spot, just opposite The Beachside Cafe, has had Tim Ryan for State Senate campaign signs and William Julian for HB City Commission campaign signs. Every time I've seen them, I've wondered who thought they could put a campaign sign on someone else's property, since it doesn't belong to The Beachside Cafe or the City of Hallandale Beach.
But that's symptomatic of the attitude and culture here in Hallandale Beach among many local pols and their supporters: to try to get away with things until you get caught and then feign ignorance when you are.


September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking up at the east facade of Hollywood City Hall on my way into the meeting.



September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
A rendering of the Beach One Resort looking south on the beach from north of the property, basically around the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.



September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
A rendering of the Beach One Resort looking north from State Road A1A.



September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
A rendering depicting the West/A1A and East/beach elevation of the Beach One Resort.



September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
A rendering showing the narrow ship-like appearance of the hotel, with the beach to the right.




September 11, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
Looking west towards Hollywood City Hall as I made my way home.



September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking east from the north sidewalk of the Intracoastal Bridge, i.e. State Road 858/Hallandale Beach Blvd., towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower to the left and the north (1850 S. Ocean) condo tower of The Beach Club to the right.

September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking north onto State Road A1A from the city boundary dividing the City of Hollywood to the north and Hallandale Beach to the south.
You can see the yellow 9/11 Development Review Board meeting sign right next to the bus bench.
As I was leaving the beach area around 6 PM or so, to get back home for the Hurricanes-Gators ballgame, I walked over to it and pushed itdown a bit, but given the heavy winds that day, I had no reason to think the sign would still be there and not on the street somewhere.

Hollywood might want to make a mental note of the simple fact that the beach area is always going to be the windiest place around, so lightweight Notice signs that are planted in the ground, probably should not be used there.

I'm constantly surprised at the number of people in the area who don't realize that the north side of Hallandale Beach Blvd. is, in fact, the entrance to Hollywood.
The sign on the A1A median welcoming you into Hollywood is two blocks north only because that median is the first one on A1A which is wide enough for the sign's placement, since the median on HBB is too narrow.

Much of the confusion no doubt stems from the fact that the city border is farther north on U.S.-1/ Federal Highway, up at Pembroke Road, and many people just assume it's at roughly the same position over on the beach.

That's why even in local sources or on www.flickr.com, you often see incorrect references to the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa and Hallandale Beach.
From the hotel, looking west, the west side of the Intracoastal is HB, but the hotel itself is in the City of Hollywood.


September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking west from Surf Road towards the lot and the sign announcing the Sept. 11th City of Hollywood Development Review Board hearing.

Currently, this is the beach parking lot controlled by what some call the rather 'shady' folks at The Beachside Cafe, which charges $5 to park in this unlit and un-supervised lot full of rocks, gravel and potholes. And did I tell you about all the feral cats?
The cats who used to congregate below the 'scarecrow' Hallandale Beach Police car near the entrance to the parking lot?
Even amongst the dumbest of South Florida's criminals, seeing bowls of cat food and water in front of a Police car's front or back tire, day after day, well, it's a bit of a hint that there are no real cops around.
And there aren't, either!
But that's another familiar refrain and subject I won't get into a tangent on now.


September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Looking south from Surf Road towards the HB Water Tower and The Beach Club.


September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Hallandale Beach Water Tower.



September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
This image, of course, will all but disappear once the Beach One Resort goes up.


September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Me and my early evening silhouette.


September 6, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The dividing line beween sunshine and shadows is a very clear one.
Shadows courtesy of The Beach Club.
The long shadows cast by the condos make it much more difficult for the lifeguards to discern swimmers in the water. Just ask them and they'll tell you as much.


September 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The view of the Beach One Resort lot while standing atop that A1A bus bench, minus about 20 feet of dirt.


September 2, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
Looking southeast from the east sidewalk on State Road A1A towards the Hallandale Beach Water Tower, Hallandale Beach Fire/Rescue #600.


I'll have MUCH more soon on that whole crazy area, scene of some shady shenanigans that have taken place there for years, as well as a thorough photographic review of the so-called North Beach Community Center, which has been the subject of many past HBB blog posts.
The city took title to it on August 3rd, 2007, but it won't be open to actual Hallandale Beach residents and taxpayers 'till February or March of next year, 18 months later.
Eighteen long months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But not to worry, friends, pals and cronies of the well-connected at Hallandale Beach City Hall have been able to use the building over the past 14 months.
Just not you!
For you, it's closed.


That's life in Hallandale Beach, Florida in the year 2008 under the ruinous reign of Joy Cooper, Dotty Ross, William Julian and City Manager Mike Good.


How many times can I say here that they're a very big part of the problem, not part of any constructive common sense solutions.


Election Day is just 30 days away, so do yourself and the city a big favor and vote NO on Dotty Ross, and cast a vote for reform, accountability and transparency at Hallandale Beach City Hall.


Vote for Arturo O' Neill and Carlos Simmons on November 4th for the Hallandale Beach City Commission.
You'll be glad you did!
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