On February 12, 2020, the City Commission approved, at first reading, an ordinance reducing the parking requirements for hotel and residential uses in the CD-2 zoning districts within the Normandy Isles national register conservation district. At the request of Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the City Commission referred the MXE portion of the subject ordinance to the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (Item R5 H).

The MXE discussion item was placed on the March 17, 2020 agenda of the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (LUSC). The March 17, 2020 LUSC meeting was postponed, and the item was moved to the May 6, 2020 LUSC meeting. On May 6, 2020 the item was deferred to the June 30, 2020 LUSC meeting.

On June 24, 2020 the City Commission adopted the ordinance reducing the parking requirements for hotel and residential uses in the CD-2 zoning districts within the Normandy Isles national register conservation district. At the request of Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the City Commission also referred a discussion pertaining to parking requirements in the Harding Townsite district in North Beach to the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (Item R5 D).

At the request of the item sponsor the Harding Townsite parking discussion was combined with the MXE discussion into a single item. Additionally, the combined item was deferred from the June 30, 2020 LUSC agenda to the September 22, 2020 agenda. On September 22, 2020 the LUSC discussed the proposal and transmitted it to the City Commission with no recommendation.

On October 14, 2020, the City Commission referred the item to the Planning Board for review and recommendation (Item C4 H). On November 17, 2020 the Planning Board held a public hearing and transmitted the ordinance to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation by a vote of 6-0.

On December 9, 2020 First Reading of the proposed Ordinance was deferred to January 13, 2021. On January 13, 2021 the subject Ordinance was approved at First Reading for the Harding Townsite area only. The MXE area was bi-furcated and referred to the Land Use and Sustainability Committee for further discussion.

On February 17, 2021 the LUSC discussed a revised version of the proposed Ordinance and continued the item with direction to the Administration to present the item to the Mayors Art Deco Cultural District (ADCD) panel.

PLANNING ANALYSIS
The attached map shows the MXE areas of the City that parking reductions are intended to apply. Overlaid into this map are locations of existing parking facilities, as well as dedicated transit stops and ridership information for these stops. This map illustrates how transit stops and parking facilities are well within the established industry standard walking distance of ¼ mile, or 1,500 feet. Of note are the publicly accessible parking structures have been built in and abutting the MXE district in South Beach since 1991.

The attached draft ordinance, which was bifurcated by the City Commission on January 13, 2021 and referred to the LUSC, is only applicable to the MXE area. Additionally, the proposed ordinance has been modified and now is only applicable to hotel and residential uses, including allowable accessory uses.

The proposed Ordinance would remove the minimum off-street parking requirements for new construction of residential and hotel uses that meet certain minimum benchmarks, including the following:

1. Lots with a width of 100 feet or less.

2. Development sites of 6 units (hotel or residential) or fewer.

3. New buildings on development sites with existing buildings for which off-street parking is not currently provided, where the total number of new residential and/or hotel units does not exceed the number of existing residential and/or hotel units.

4. Properties located within 1,500 feet of a public transit stop, or within 1,500 feet of any public or private parking garage.

The proposal to modify parking requirements for residential and hotel uses in the MXE area would only apply to new construction (existing buildings do not have a parking requirement). As such, the number of actual spaces required is limited to the square footage of new construction, which is typically in the form of a ground level or roof-top addition. Attached are illustrations of recent projects, approved or contemplated, within the MXE area south of 16th Street; the impact of these projects, from a size standpoint is minimal.

The elimination of minimum parking requirements in local historic districts is good policy and will be an incentive for existing buildings to be renovated and restored, as additions will be more economically feasible. All addition and renovation proposals within the MXE district are subject to the review and approval of the Historic Preservation Board. This will ensure that any proposed additions are limited, as well as sensitive and contextually compatible with both the structure on site and the surrounding area.

Finally, with the recent adoption of the City-wide mobility fee, which replaced the concurrency management fee for traffic, a broader measurement for mobility, as opposed to solely vehicular traffic, has been put in place. The mobility fee considers all mobility aspects of a project and is not limited solely to vehicular congestion and off-site vehicular storage.

UPDATE
On March 12, 2021, the ADCD Panel provided comments and feedback regarding the proposed Ordinance. While not opposed to the proposal, the panel was not ready to provide a specific recommendation on whether residential and hotel uses should be incentivized by eliminating the parking impact fee for new construction. The panel concluded that more information and analysis was needed from Zyscovich on the larger, holistic vision of the MXE area and what types of uses should be incentivized.

While understanding of the ADCD Panel conclusion, and appreciative of their time and effort discussing this proposal, the Administration, on balance, still believes that the proposal, as revised, is ready to move forward. In this regard the proposed Ordinance is now much more limited, as it is only applicable to hotel and residential uses. As these are key uses that contribute to the larger vitality of the area, the Administration recommends moving the Ordinance forward.