Hialeah planning board tables variance requests for 100 E. 30th Street after staff flags multiple illegal structures

The Hialeah Planning and Zoning Board voted to table multiple variance requests for a property identified in the record as 100 East 30 Seventh Street to allow the applicant and the project architect to work with planning staff on revised plans and clarifying documentation.

Planning staff told the board the lot, located at the southeast corner of East 30th Street and East First Avenue, is approximately 10,350 square feet and has a long history of incremental additions and work done without permits. Staff listed prior permitted work (a single-family home built in 1955, a West-side carport and floor room with permits in 1960, and a pool permitted in 1970) but noted multiple structures constructed without permits were identified in a current code complaint (Complaint 201904435). Those unpermitted items include a west side garage expansion with an aluminum roof, an east-side master bedroom addition, an attached terrace, multiple concrete slabs, a detached oversized accessory structure and a gazebo that does not meet required separation distances.

Staff reported the detached accessory building measures 556.2 square feet, exceeding the 500-square-foot maximum allowed; it also reported a gazebo with separation as little as 1.5 feet from the main structure where 10 feet is the minimum stated in the staff report. Staff recommended denial of the oversized accessory building and the gazebo setback and separation variances, recommended approval to legalize the master-bedroom interior side setback, and recommended conditional approval for the garage/north setback variance subject to submission of additional information to confirm the space will be used as a garage and not as living space (specifically that a sink and full bathroom be removed).

During public comment and applicant response the record shows the owner acknowledged a mix of permitted and unpermitted work and said he would meet with his architect and planning staff to revise plans. Board members and attendees raised concerns about drainage, the lack of green space, proximity to neighbors, and the potential for the structures to be used as separate living units; staff and some board members noted the Miami-Dade County property appraiser page lists the parcel as a five-bedroom, five-bath property even though the submitted plan reflected four bedrooms and no application for extended-family quarters or a tenant certificate had been filed.

After discussion the board voted to table the item to "further notice" so the applicant can return with corrected plans and the documentation staff requested. The motion to table was made by Mister Uye and seconded by Mister Jimenez; the board recorded a roll-call vote in favor and the item was tabled. Staff advised the applicant to return with the architect, remove or revise illegal elements as needed, and submit plans that demonstrate the garage will comply with the condition (no sink/full bathroom) if it is to be legalized.