'Town Center' zoning update
By Bari Auerbach

The Town Center district, encompassing the west side of Collins Avenue from 172nd Street to and inclusive of Sunny Isles Boulevard, has been the focus of a series of public workshops held in recent months to plan zoning regulations that will dictate the shape of residential and commercial development to come.

The City Commission, in conjunction with city staff and planning consultants from Calvin Giordano & Associates, has been considering input from citizens, developers and other interested parties with the goal to create a Town Center zoning ordinance paving the way for continued revitalization and economic prosperity.

On March 2, a meeting originally scheduled to approve the first reading of the Town Center ordinance, evolved into a workshop instead; and the first reading of the ordinance was postponed until April 1. The decision to delay the first reading was made by the Commission in order to give planning consultants and city staff more time to prepare graphic elements and other explanatory materials regarding various components and amendments of the Town Center ordinance.

During the March 2 meeting, Shelly Eichner of Calvin Giordano & Associates, presented an overview of priority areas of concern addressed in the Town Center zoning ordinance.

"Over the past several months, there have been many formal and informal workshop sessions where we've met with commissioners, the public and developers to go through the future of Town Center and what people would like to see." Eichner said.

"Back in December, we prepared a draft ordinance which then became the basis for some serious discussions during January and February workshops. What you have before you today is the culmination of those workshops where issues were raised.There was discussion among commissioners as well as the public and developers.A consensus on certain issues [was ultimately reached] and then included in the ordinance which now reflects all the changes made in public workshops.

"There has been much additional scrutiny since the ordinance was first presented.Some of the changes are to add legal clarity and put things into proper sections; and other changes are a bit more substantial in nature such as setbacks and FAR (floor area ratio)."

Eichner proceeded to delineate modifications to the Town Center ordinance as follows:

Town Center 'sub-districts'
"One of the issues that became clear during the workshops was that there was a need to create some sub-districts within the overall Town Center," Eichner said. "We created a separate district and zoning criteria for the center portion of Sunny Isles Boulevard as well as the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard.It was determined that area also needed some separate and distinct zoning criteria based on physical limitations - particularly with the road to the north and the waterway on the south side which led to a need to allow for greater heights, FAR (floor area ratio) and some reduced setbacks in order to encourage the redevelopment everyone felt was necessary for the Town Center.

"Some properties don't have [ample] depth and if the goal is to really encourage redevelopment you need to have more dense and intense levels to make it worthwhile to have someone come and do something"

Lot coverage/FAR/density
Commissioner Lewis Thaler noted, "It's a matter of opinion as to how dense and wide [buildings] should be." He went on to suggest that a maximum lot coverage of 80 percent (instead of the 90 percent currently stipulated in the ordinance) would be preferential.

In response to Thaler's concerns, Eichner explained, "In terms of lot coverage, [90 percent] is a maximum and it doesn't mean [developers] may even be able to get to it. These recommendations and items in the ordinance are a result of a [commission] consensus."

Based in part on concerns about future traffic congestion, Thaler also said he believes units per acre should be capped at 60 throughout the entire Town Center district as opposed to allowing maximum of 80 units per acre, currently stipulated in the ordinance.

Voicing a different opinion, Commissioner Danny Iglesias said, "I want it to be 80 [units per acre] across the board.If there is a place to 'incentavize' redevelopment it's Sunny Isles Boulevard.It's the only place within the city that's blighted.Even our comprehensive plan says these are the areas where you want to do the most incentives.Plus in reality, you're looking at an entire area with 2,514 linear feet.The difference between 60 and 80 units [per acre] in the entire area is [equivalent to]160 units which isn't even an entire building."

Elaborating on the reason for the FAR bonuses, Mayor Norman Edelcup said. "I think the idea was to create a reason for [lot] assemblage.This creates it because it says if you're going to keep a small lot you're not going to be able to build as much as if you have a wider lot."

Commissioner Roslyn Brezin pointed out, "If there is the possibility that [in the future] we can have all big parcels of 400 feet and over.that means we'll be dealing with approximately 80 units per acre.In the event that happens, lets keep [units per acre] down to 70 or 60 so we won't be faced with just all big buildings of 80 units or more."

Clarifying the issue, Iglesias noted, [units per acre] won't change the height of the building.All it means is that there will be bigger apartments inside the building.If you went down [from 80 units per acre] to 60, there would just be bigger apartments but the building will stay the same size."

Thaler subsequently brought up the theory of increased density and its relation to traffic congestion. In response, Iglesias, an engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation noted, "[Sunny Isles Boulevard] is already an 'A service level' and not the traffic generator in this area.What I'm trying to tell you is even though [an additional] 160 units sounds like a lot, that difference can mean whether or not developers can build in the area based on what they're charging. At 60 [units per acre] or 80, [aesthetic] views won't change.What will change is whether or not it will be feasible to build something there or not. They may be able to do it at 60 [units per acre] with [larger], more expensive units but frankly, I don't know if the market is there."

Commenting on traffic impact, Vice Mayor Gerry Goodman noted, "There are seven buildings at Winston Towers with a little less than 3,000 apartments and I never saw a traffic jam on 174th Street or on side streets.Our major problem with traffic is Collins Avenue.You'll also notice there are no lights in half the buildings - the people don't live there at the present time."

In response to Goodman's observations about seasonal residents, Thaler said. "I think you have to think about the future and not just what's happening here today. If you go down Collins you have a tremendous increase in traffic because people are moving into these places much faster than before and I think that's what we have to look at."

Concurring, Edelcup added, "A lot of these buildings are starting out with seasonal owners.We have to plan for that in the future, there will be more year-round owners and traffic. What may be light in the beginning with the same configuration of buildings could be much heavier later when people live there year-round."

Although the Commission originally established a base FAR (floor area ratio) of 2.5 for properties on Sunny Isles Boulevard - allowing parcels with a frontage of 400 feet or greater to be eligible for a 1.5 FAR bonus (considered an additional incentive for developers to aggregate property), the ordinance was subsequently revised utilizing various parcel sizes as a basis for determining applicable FAR.

Ultimately, at least until the rescheduled first reading of the Town Center ordinance on April 1, the Commission decided to leave designated density and FAR configurations as follows:

For parcels from 100 to 149 feet, there is a density of 25 units per acre and an FAR of 1.5; for parcels from 150 to 299 feet, there is a density of 50 units per acre and an FAR of 2.0; for parcels from 300 to 399 feet, there is a density of 70 units per acre and an FAR of 2.5; and for parcels of 400 feet and above, there is a density of 80 units and an FAR of 3.5.

Prohibited uses
At a Town Center workshop held on Feb. 5, the Commission decided it would be in the best interest of the city to add condo hotels to the list of prohibited uses in the Town Center district.

"Condo/ hotels have had limited success," Edelcup said. "Rather than take a situation that may give a 'black eye' to the City in the future upon failure, I would like to see [condo/hotels] eliminated [from the Town Center district]."

The Commission also made it clear the decision to eliminate condo/hotels from the Town Center district was not "set in stone" and if a viable project was ever presented, it would be considered.

FAR Bonus Amendments

Garages/parking:
"The Town Center ordinance now includes an FAR (floor area ratio) bonus of .5 for developments providing enclosed parking," Eichner said. "Originally it was 75 percent or more of the required parking had to be enclosed - now it's 100 percent and the façade will be incorporated so you can't tell it's a garage."

Public plazas:
For developers to receive an FAR bonus for public plaza areas, the minimum size has been increased from 1,500 square feet to 2,500 square feet to meet minimum eligibility requirements.

Site assembly:
"There is an [FAR] bonus for parcels that are over three acres in area - but this bonus provision excludes Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard on the south edge and the center sub-district area," Eichner said. "There are some other provisions [in the Town Center ordinance allowing developers to] receive additional bonuses based on their lot size so it would be 'doubling' [the bonus] if we gave both."

Public land enhancement:
"The public land enhancement [FAR] bonus is a new item in this [ordinance] draft from December with some additional language added in that will clarify it and tie it into the TDR (transfers of development rights) ordinance already adopted," Eichner said. "The public land enhancement bonus would be available [to property owners in exchange for] improvements or money to make those improvements.it's separate from the TDR ordinance [pertaining to] land fronting Sunny Isles Boulevard where [property owners] could get additional bonuses and TDR's for dedicating land."

Mixed use bonus:
"This was a discussion that came in terms of a-mixed use building," Eichner said. "The [opinions were] 'instead of just requiring retail on the first floor, let's put it in the form of a bonus in a multi-family building.If a developer builds retail on the first floor they'd get a FAR bonus for doing so with the understanding that if they get the bonus for doing retail, the area [couldn't later be] be converted to more residential [units]."It could only be converted into open space which would basically be a lobby."

Tower separation/setbacks:
During the workshop, Mayor Edelcup noted, "We want to assure we don't get one 'wide wall' [on Sunny Isles Boulevard]. I'd like to see at least 50 feet between all towers.and 25 feet on either end.Let's also make sure no building is wider than 200 feet."

In regards to tower setbacks from the street on the south side of Sunny Isles Beach where lots are limited in depth, a debate arose as to whether ten feet or twenty feet would be optimal for encouraging redevelopment. Ultimately, Eichner agreed to return with graphic depictions of each configuration in order to assist the Commission in making a more informed decision.

The next workshop will be held April 1, 7 p.m. at City Hall when the first reading of the Town Center ordinance is scheduled to take place. For more information, phone:
305-947-0606.

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