Dense City?
Town Center sparks 'traffic/density' debate
By Bari Auerbach

Issues including traffic congestion as well as optimal density, side setback and building height guidelines for the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard were recently the focus of discussion and debate at an April 1 City Commission meeting when an ordinance relating to the creation of a Town Center district was approved on first reading. The zoning regulations outlined in the Town Center ordinance will dictate the shape of residential and commercial development to come for the area encompassing the west side of Collins Avenue from 172nd Street to and inclusive of Sunny Isles Boulevard.
For months, 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 for the first reading of the Town Center ordinance evolved into a workshop instead; and the first reading of the ordinance was moved to 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 to the Town Center ordinance which were presented on April 1.

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," explained Shelly Eichner of Calvin Giordano & Associates. "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."

'Sliding scale density'
"The dwelling unit density [in the Town Center ordinance] is defined as a maximum of 60 units per acre for all properties except for the southern edge of Sunny Isles Boulevard that can have a maximum density not to exceed 80 units per acre.the density is tied into the lot widths," Eichner said.

Following a majority vote of the Commission, the Town Center ordinance now includes a "sliding scale" created for density and floor area ratio (FAR) as follows: For parcels from 100 to 149 feet, there is a density of 25 units per acre and base FAR of 1.5; for parcels from 150 to 299 feet, there is a density of 50 units per acre and base FAR of 2.0; for parcels from 300 to 399 feet, there is a density of 70 units per acre and base FAR of 2.5; and for parcels of 400 feet and above, there is a density of 80 units per acre and a base FAR of 3.5.

'Minimizing maximum density'
At the April 1 Commission meeting, developer Joe Milton of J. Milton & Associates (Sayan, Pinnacle, Sands Pointe) helped shed light on the subject of density after a debate arose as to whether or not a maximum of 80 units per acre was too high.

"[Properties on the south side of] Sunny Isles Boulevard are comprised of several owners - not one owner," Milton said, alluding to the constraints developers are facing in terms of lot assemblage. In fact, the way it stands today, there are only two properties that can get that [maximum] 80 units per acre with the 'sliding scale' [concept outlined in the Town Center ordinance].

"Four out of the eight properties [on the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard] will only be allowed 50 units per acre; another one is allowed 25; another 70 and two [parcels that have 400+ feet] are the only [prospective] 80 unit per acre properties.[So ultimately], the average will be less than 40 units [per acre on the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard].My suggestion is keep the 'sliding scale' and allow some development to be done [in reasonable correlation] to the quality you want in the Town Center.Stop reducing things without realizing what you're causing as a result. Today you have [an average of less than] 40 units per acre."

Greenberg Traurig attorney Cliff Schulman, who represents developers including J. Milton & Associates, added, "It's really almost absurd in certain respects to recognize [Sunny Isles Beach] has a Town Center ordinance based on a Comprehensive Plan that says it's to be the 'high density' part of the city.yet
[the Commission] is discussing whether or not you can even get there at 80 units per acre for a very unique, limited portion of the city which will probably result in 50 additional dwelling units in an area that [otherwise] may not be able to sustain viable development because of its unique geographics [the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard]."

Commissioner Danny Iglesias said, "We're looking at 'incentivizing' a dilapidated area which our Comprehensive Plan has approved [for high intensity found] in major cities that have Town Centers.If you were to take the maximum density allowed on Sunny Isles Boulevard, it would [still] have less apartments then one single building on North Bay Road."

A resident of Oceania Tower Five expressing her opinion begged to differ with Iglesias. "It's not fair to compare North Bay Road to [an arterial roadway like] Sunny Isles Boulevard.Also, Biscayne Landing [the new North Miami community being developed] will have 10,000 units and those people will all come down to the beach.There is [more and more traffic] coming through.We can't stop progress but please try to keep it to a minimum."

Proffering a facetious rebuttal, Schulman said, "North Miami, Miami Beach and Broward are developing and 'dumping' trips to Sunny Isles Beach.so why don't we just 'stop' development [here]? Let everybody else 'develop' and use [Sunny Isles Beach] streets - but let us stop 50 more units in an area of the city where you want to encourage development.

"If [the Commission doesn't] allow [a maximum of 80 units per acre], you could increase the cost of development of two lots [on the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard] by 30 percent [just] because Biscayne Landing is going to be 'sending trips.' That is almost turning the entire world upside down.You'd be letting your city be governed by 'the others.' Do what's best for you by encouraging development in an area that you've not been able to get redeveloped.

"All the developers on that one side of the street are asking is for 50 more dwelling units.You have done a wonderful job of turning this city around and building a city that truly is an example of advancement of development.In a Town Center, one block needs more help than the others because it doesn't have the same ability to get the number of units it needs to be economically feasible. This is not 80 units for the entire city we're talking about.In essence, it's 50 more units to conceivably make an area (the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard) economically viable for development."

'Traffic impact'
Earlier in the meeting, Commissioner Lewis Thaler spoke about density issues. Thaler supported the concept of having 60 units per acre throughout the entire Town Center district and later said he'd be willing to "compromise" and allow 70 units per acre for the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard.
Thaler said he asked city staff to work on figures pertaining to density as it relates to dwelling units and traffic impact. Based on his assumption that information he was given pertaining to Sunny Isles Boulevard was accurate, Thaler said at 80 units per acre, 873 units could be built; compared to 655 units at 60 units per acre (not taking transfers of development rights into consideration).

Regarding traffic impacts, Thaler said, "If you take the statistics of an average of 1.7 cars per unit, it comes to a difference of 481 cars in that area by just going from 60 to 80 [units per acre] on your density. If you want to [consider] trips per day, with 80 [units per acre] it comes to 4,767 trips; and with 60, it comes to 3,578 trips per day.What we're really doing is relating the density to the traffic. If we stay at 60 [units per acre] - [what it is] for the rest of Town Center - we'll have almost 500 cars less driving these streets."

In response, Igesias pointed out that according to his calculations for Sunny Isles Boulevard, at 80 units per acre, 788 units could be built; compared to 633 units at 60 units per acre. He also explained it would be more feasible for commercial properties rather than condos to be built on the north side of Sunny Isles Boulevard based on zoning regulations permitting a maximum frontage height of four stories "With respect to [studying] traffic, which is something I've done for the last 23 years as a professional engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation, I think I know what I'm talking about and I want to share some numbers," Iglesias said.

"The 'bible' that is used for trip generation comes from the Institute of Traffic Engineers. Using these actual figures, [just] taking the north end [of Sunny Isles Boulevard into consideration] - with 80 units per acre for everything, you'd come up with 788 units per acre with four lanes of traffic. That's six units less than one single building on North Bay Road that only has two lanes of traffic"

Iglesias also pointed out, "At [the maximum of] 80 units per acre, you'd generate 3,296 trip ends per day. Traffic on Sunny Isles Boulevard per day is [projected to be] 46,000 vehicles for 2006. Currently, there are over 44,000 vehicles per day.[Based on the maximum of] 80 units per acre, we're looking at adding six percent more traffic - assuming we're keeping every single [existing] business [on Sunny Isles Boulevard].The bottom line is density with respect to traffic is not the issue - the numbers don't back it up."

Conceding that traffic in every major U.S. city is increasing, Iglesias said, "People are living longer and they're driving cars - so to say that traffic is not going to be a problem in any major city is 'lying.' We're pushing mass transit - but people like to drive their cars."

Vice Mayor Gerry Goodman highlighted other traffic concerns including the proximity of a drawbridge to Sunny Isles Boulevard that frequently causes "bumper to bumper" backups and the fact that much of the traffic coming through the city can be attributed to non-residents from other areas.

"All those cars are not from people who live here now," Goodman said. "We cannot build any roads and we have no land to expand, so we have to take into consideration not only [what buildings are coming online] but [the traffic already] coming through Sunny Isles Beach."

Mayor Norman Edelcup emphasized, "Whether it's 60 or 80 units per acre, we're going to have the traffic because it's coming from outside the city and unfortunately that's something we can't control."

Commissioner Roslyn Brezin interjected, "Realistically, we're not dealing with 'figures' but with the 'situation.' I live in the Arlen House and use 163rd Street several times a day.when the bridge is up it's 'impossible.' If [traffic] is a problem why add to the problem we already have?"

After much continued debate by the Commission and public commentaries, ultimately, the "sliding scale" created for density ranging from 25 units per acre to 80 units per acre for parcels of 400 feet and above was kept "as is" in the Town Center ordinance.

'Scaling back setbacks'
In regards to side setbacks on the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard where lots are limited in depth, a debate arose as to whether ten foot, five foot or zero side setbacks would be optimal.

Following discussions revolving around the pros and cons of zero side setbacks including the elimination of alleyways in between buildings to promote "pedestrian friendly, safe" walkways and fire safety access issues, the majority of the Commission endorsed zero setbacks with the provision that each proposed development would be subject to site plan approval.

"Each and every building coming before us has to have a site plan review including the fire department, police department, city staff and planners signing off on whether [the plan, including setbacks] is feasible," Edelcup said.
The zero side setbacks would still allow for a separation of 50 feet in between towers in order to avoid a "wall effect" and tower setbacks would subsequently increase from 20 to 25 feet (to allow for the 50 feet in between towers).

'The right height'
Eichner provided an overview of the "birthday cake" effect for heights within the Town Center, explaining: For the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard, building height maximum is 190 feet. For the area fronting the west side of Collins and the north side of Sunny Isles Boulevard, building height maximum is 50 feet/four stories.then, for the first 130 feet setback from the property line, it will be 100 feet/eight stories.and then for the next 100 feet, it will be 170 feet/15 stories.

Speaking on the topic of optimal building height for the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard, Commissioner Roslyn Brezin said, "What we have now is certainly not what I would dream of for the gateway to the city, however I certainly don't [want] buildings that are 190 feet tall [or 210 feet including mechanical features]. I am proposing we have buildings no taller than 110 feet high [exclusive of] housing for elevator shafts and air conditioning systems."

Developer Joe Milton noted, "Tall and skinny [buildings] create open space but 'short and fat' creates walls we can't see through. Citing an example, he said, "If you're walking by Porto Bellagio that's only eight stories tall, it's a disaster.it's a wall."

Mayor Edelcup added, "We have to have view corridors.As a reminder, what we're trying to do is not create a wall with the old famous 'concrete canyon.' The only way you can do that is to build 'tall and skinny' with view corridors."
Ultimately, the majority of the Commission voted in favor of a building height that would be a maximum of 190 feet for the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard inclusive of mechanical equipment enclosed in a decorative manner.

'Around town'
Other elements of the Town Center ordinance outline zoning guidelines including prohibited uses; floor area ratio (FAR) bonus amendments for developers proffering open space and desirable amenities such as enclosed parking, public plazas, site assembly and public land enhancements; and architectural guidelines intended to be approved in conjunction with site plan approval to ensure there is a consistent pedestrian friendly concept throughout the Town Center.

The Town Center ordinance that was approved on first reading (with Commissioner Roslyn Brezin dissenting) is scheduled for second reading on May 6 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
 

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