MOBILITY FEE WAIVER FOR RESTAURANTS AND SIDEWALK CAFES

AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH BY AMENDING CHAPTER 122 OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS, ENTITLED "CONCURRENCY MANAGEMENT AND MOBILITY FEES," ARTICLE I, ENTITLED "PURPOSE AND GENERAL PROVISIONS," AT SECTION 122-2, ENTITLED "DEFINITIONS"; ARTICLE II, ENTITLED "CONCURRENCY," AT SECTION 122-12, ENTITLED "DETERMINATION OF CONCURRENCY," AND ARTICLE ILL, ENTITLED "MOBILITY FEES," AT SECTION 122-23, ENTITLED "IMPOSITION AND COLLECTION OF MOBILITY FEES," TO PROVIDE FOR A MOBILITY FEE CREDIT AND CAPACITY CREDIT FOR RESTAURANT AND SIDEWALK CAFE USES THAT HAVE REDUCED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SEATS SUBSEQUENT TO THE INITIAL MOBILITY FEE AND/OR CONCURRENCY DETERMINATION FOR THE USE, AND PROVIDE FOR RELATED CLARIFICATIONS; AND PROVIDING FOR REPEALER; SEVERABILITY; CODIFICATION; AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 

PLANNING ANALYSIS
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism and dining-out were greatly reduced, leading to significant losses of business for many of the restaurants within the City. To reduce expenses, many restaurants reduced their sidewalk café seating. Now that tourism and dining-out have returned to pre-pandemic levels, many of those restaurants are seeking to re-introduce the seating that had previously been removed.

Under the current code requirements for Mobility Fees, credit is only given for the use approved immediately prior to the request to increase. As a result of this, restaurants must pay a Mobility Fee to reintroduce seats that would have been permitted less than two years. The Mobility Fee for restaurants and sidewalk cafes is currently $903.91 per seat. This results in an unfair burden to restaurants that were struggling to survive a global economic downturn.

In such a situation, the reintroduction of seats does not create a transportation impact that is beyond what was previously considered and mitigated against. To this end, the proposed Ordinance would provide credit for the highest number of legally established seats that existed in the two-years prior to the re-introduction of the seats. This additional credit is only provided if there was no intervening change of use or ownership. As a result, such restaurants would not be unfairly penalized with a mobility fee that likely was already paid in years prior.

The Ordinance also provides related clarifications so that it is clear that existing credits apply for both concurrency mitigation and mobility fees and defining what is considered an active use.

PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
On February 22, 2022 the Planning Board held a public hearing and transmitted the Ordinance to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation by a vote of 7-0.

UPDATE

On March 9, 2022 the City Commission approved the subject Ordinance at First Reading, with no changes, inclusive of the waiver of the applicable fees in section 118-7 and Appendix A.