The 50,000-Square-Foot Rule
Planning Board: Big Buildings in Commercial Zones Should Require Conditional Use Approval

“Although size matters, use matters even more.”

By Bonnie Schindler

The Miami Beach Planning Board unanimously passed an ordinance that would require conditional use reviews for the development of structures of more than 50,000 square feet in commercial districts, during a meeting Tuesday.

The Beach Planning Board already has the power to hand out conditional use permits for projects over 50,000 square feet in areas zoned light industrial. The board also issues permits on a case-by-case basis to nightclubs and outdoor entertainment establishments on certain Miami Beach streets. The purpose of conditional use permits is “to enable the Planning Board to impose conditions and restrictions that would help in ameliorating any adverse impacts resulting from a particular development,” Planning Director Jorge Gomez wrote in an August 22 staff report to the board.

When required, a project cannot move forward without a conditional use permit.

There are commercial districts located throughout Miami Beach along such thoroughfares as Alton Road, Fifth Street, Washington Avenue, Lincoln Road, Dade Boulevard, Purdy Avenue, 41st Street, 71st Street, Normandy Street and Harding Avenue.

The vote comes two years after the “citizens of Miami Beach overwhelmingly approved a straw ballot question to limit the construction of new buildings that are larger than 50,000 square feet,” Gomez stated.

Citing a need for control of large development sites, Gomez said it was necessary for the Planning Board to expand beyond its conditional use scope of light industrial districts and include commercial and residential areas.

“During the last few years, the city has been subjected to a great amount of development pressures, which may endanger the urban character as well as the infrastructure of the city, to the extent that it appears that a certain level of growth management has become necessary,” Gomez wrote. “It is very important to maintain the character and the infrastructure of the city at a level that all commercial and residential uses can co-exist.”

Some residents, such as North Beach’s Daniel Veitia, whose father and sister live in the Sunset Harbour towers, say the board needs strict guidelines when deciding if a project more than 50,000 square feet in size is compatible or not.

“I am concerned about giving the Planning Board the power to control the decision-making process of what retailer has the right to operate in Miami Beach,” Veitia said after the meeting. “I don’t like subjective decision-making processes when it comes to local boards and feel that there needs to be clear criteria that make the process objective.”

The ordinance presented at the Planning Board meeting stated 13 different criteria the council will consider when deciding whether or not these large projects can be built in a commercial area.

The first is whether the proposed change is consistent with the comprehensive, neighborhood and redevelopment plans. The board will also look to see if a project of 50,000 square feet or more would create an isolation unrelated to nearby districts, if it is out of scale with the needs of the community or city, and whether or not it would increase the load on public facilities and the infrastructure.

Further, the Planning Board would determine if the development would adversely influence the living conditions in the neighborhood, if it would increase traffic or affect public safety, seriously reduce light and air in the adjacent areas, or affect property values.

The board will also see whether the existing district boundaries are illogically drawn in relation to the current conditions of the property seeking change, ask for substantial reasoning as to why the existing conditions of the property are not sufficient, and lastly decide if it is impossible to find other adequate sites in the city that already permit such conditions.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Victor Diaz, Planning Board chairman, said, although he wishes the board could add to its duties the responsibility of limiting the number of large-area projects in any one area. He believes the conditional use ordinance is the happy medium between too much, and completely stopping large-scale development.

But not everyone feels the same way.

“Although size matters, use matters even more,” Marilyn Freundlich, of the Townhouses at Sunset Harbour Condo Neighborhood Association, said during the regularly scheduled planning meeting.

For example, Freundlich, who is opposed to a commercial project in her area, points out that if a 50,000-square-foot building were to be designed for storage, it would have much less of an impact on the neighborhood because despite its size, there would be fewer people and less traffic than at a large-scale store.

During the July 25 Planning Board meeting, a 245,000-square-foot commercial project called West Side One and West Side Two was put on the back burner for 90 days to allow time for a traffic study. The development, proposed for the West Avenue/Sunset Harbour area, would have two components: a supermarket and a home improvement retailer, according to a SunPost article covering that meeting.

Indeed, traffic has been a large part of the push to move forward with conditional use reviews, Miami Beach resident Frank Del Vecchio told the SunPost.

“The time has come for the city to exercise greater control over large regional commercial development that will bring more traffic into the city than this barrier island’s limited street system can handle,” Del Vecchio said. “If a business that relies on vehicle traffic (versus foot traffic) targets a site that is not readily accessible by major traffic arterials, and will impact on residents and businesses in the vicinity by clogging local streets and nearby intersections, it is prudent for the city to examine the business plan, the intensity and hours of traffic, and the capacity of the streets and intersections to handle the traffic that will be generated; that is the direction the Planning Board is now taking.”

Deciding what development is best for an area is somewhat subjective, Ray Breslin, president of the Collins Park Neighborhood Association, said.

“We all have our agendas: Ask me if I want a Home Depot and I’d say no, it doesn’t compliment our neighborhood,” Breslin told the SunPost. “Ask me if I’d like to see a Trader Joe’s or something more unique and I might have a different answer… Nothing is ever cut and dried.... Everyone wants an IKEA to come to Florida but they want it in someone else’s back yard.”

Veitia believes the ordinance was drafted to keep out one particular retailer, which he refused to name specifically, but said residents have been very vocal about rejecting it.

“This is not the reputation nor the process our city should follow,” he said. “If the city wanted to proactively look at its zoning code and create zoning changes to protect the interest or fabric of certain areas of the city, fine. However, to stall a development through the design and review process in order to pass legislation that would prohibit a specific retailer from entering this area is a major concern for me.”

Ultimately, Veitia said, the city of Miami Beach is scaring away private enterprise and deterring investment that “contrary to belief, we need more now than ever.”

And while the board is reacting to the voice of the people, it is not the job of any of the neighborhood associations to officially decide what can be developed in the area.

“I believe we elect the commission to do a job and it is their job to do it,” Breslin said. “I have every confidence that a correct approach and decision will be made; that is why there is zoning and master plans for any great city, and we have a great city.”

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