COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT - PF PUBLIC-PRIVATE REDEVELOPMENT

AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE RESILIENT LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT ELEMENT, GOAL RLU 1, ENTITLED "LAND USE," OBJECTIVE RLU 1.1, ENTITLED "ESTABLISHMENT OF FUTURE LAND USE CATEGORIES," POLICY RLU 1.1.17, ENTITLED "PUBLIC FACILITY: GOVERNMENTAL USES (PF)," TO PERMIT PUBLIC-PRIVATE MARINA REDEVELOPMENT AND RELATED USES ON PUBLIC PROPERTY; AND PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION, REPEALER, SEVERABILITY, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

PLANNING ANALYSIS
The current lessee of the Miami Beach Marina is proposing a public private partnership with the City of Miami Beach to renegotiate the lease of the facility and make significant improvements to the property. The proposal requires several companion items, including the following:

• An amendment to the C-PS4 district within the Land Development Regulations;
• A lease agreement;
• Sale of development site and air parcel for a private residential development;
• Approval of a development agreement;
• Vacation of the western half of the Alton Road ROW abutting the parcels located at 300-390 Alton Road.
• A Comprehensive Plan amendment to the PF future land use category.

The Public Facility (PF) Governmental Use land use designation in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan is intended to provide opportunities for existing and new governmental uses of City owned or controlled property. The lessee of the Miami Beach Marina is proposing substantial capital improvements to the Miami Beach Marina including significant enhancements to the marina facilities addressing resiliency, sea level rise, other needed capital improvements, and redevelopment of the upland portion of the marina. Additionally, the proposed extension of the marina lease would significantly improve the lease terms and deliver additional public benefits.

This initiative requires an amendment to the PF land use designation text, in order to allow for a public-private development agreement to govern and regulate upland development of the City-owned marina property. In this regard, the following text amendment is proposed:

POLICY RLU 1.1.17 PUBLIC FACILITY: GOVERNMENTAL USES (PF)

Purpose: To provide development opportunities for existing and new government uses, as well as public-private redevelopments.

Uses which may be permitted: Government uses, parking facilities, affordable or workforce housing, various types of commercial uses including business and professional offices, retail sales and service establishments, and eating and drinking establishments, and public-private marina redevelopments.

Public-private marina redevelopments shall include significant publicly accessible green open space and may permit the following uses: Retail sales and service establishments; commercial uses, including business and professional offices; eating and drinking establishments; apartment residential uses; and recreational uses.

The proposed amendment allows for public-private marina redevelopments as a main permitted use. This use allows for a variety of sub-uses which are expected to fund the resiliency improvements that must be made to such a site. Additionally, the amendment requires that significant amounts of open space be incorporated into public-private marina development.

The zoning designation of the site is GU, which requires City Commission approval for any development proposal. Additionally, for private or joint government/private, such as this, Planning Board review is required.

As the proposal will allow for resiliency enhancements to be built on the site, it is consistent with Principle 1 of the Resilient Land Use Element of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which states the following:

PRINCIPLE 1: DEVELOPING A RESILIENT FUTURE
The City shall encourage redevelopment that contributes to community resiliency by meeting all required peril of flood mitigation and storm hazard standards for on-site development and shall also prioritize energy efficient development that provides stormwater mitigation, and co-benefit features that contribute to the City’s resiliency as a whole.

Additional data and analysis is attached to this report as follows:

• Exhibit A – Civil Engineering Report
• Exhibit B – Environmental Report
• Exhibit C – Traffic Report
• Exhibit D – Economic Report

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING REVIEW PROCESS
This referral includes a text amendment to Objective 1 of the Future Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan. Under Sections 163.3184(2), F.S., this amendment shall follow the expedited state review process for adoption of comprehensive plan amendments. This process requires a public hearing by the local planning agency (Planning Board), a public transmittal hearing before the City Commission, after which the amendment must be transmitted to several state agencies for a 30-day review period, and a final adoption public hearing before the City Commission. The amendment is effective 31-days after it is adopted if there are no appeals.

PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
The Planning Board held a public hearing on June 23, 2020 and transmited the ordinance to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation by a vote of 7-0.

UPDATE

The subject ordinance was approved at first reading on June 24, 2020 and transmitted to the applicable review agencies. As part of the inter-agency review, the State of Florida Department of Economic Opportunity provided a comment that neither the existing policy nor the amended language provides a residential density standard to the “Public Facility: Governmental Uses” category as required by statute. In order to address this comment, the following minor revision to Policy RLU 1.1.17 is proposed:

Density limits: The base density limit for affordable or workforce housing units shall be the average of the surrounding future land use categories. The density limit for market rate apartment residential uses in a public-private marina redevelopment shall be 15 units per acre.

The administration recommends that the City Commission adopt the subject ordinance with the following revision:

1. Policy RLU 1.1.17 

Density limits: The base density limit for affordable or workforce housing units shall be the average of the surrounding future land use categories. The density limit for market rate apartment residential uses in a public-private marina redevelopment shall be 15 units per acre.