HISTORY

On November 9, 2016, at the request of Commissioner Joy Malakoff, the City Commission referred this item (item C4J) to the Land Use and Development Committee (LUDC). On November 16, 2016, the LUDC continued the item to a date certain of December 12, 2016.

On December 12, 2016, the LUDC discussed the item and directed staff to prepare a draft Ordinance for the January 18, 2017 Land Use Committee meeting.  On January 18, 2017, the Land Use Committee recommended that the City Commission refer the attached ordinance to the Planning Board for consideration.

On February 8, 2017, the Mayor and City Commission referred this item to the Planning Board for consideration (item C4H.)

BACKGROUND

In 2002, the West Avenue Bay Front Overlay was created, which includes properties lying within the RM-1, RM-2 and RM-3 zoning districts.  The overlay is generally bounded by the Collins Canal on the north, the south side of 11th Street on the south, the centerline of Alton Court (alley west of Alton Road) on the east and Biscayne Bay on the west.  The overlay also includes the boundaries of the Gilbert Fein Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD).

At the time the city established the West Avenue overlay, the City Code permitted hotels uses in the RM-2 and RM-3 districts within the overlay, but prohibited hotels in the RM-1 district.  In order to incentivize the retention and adaptive re-use of the lower scale structures in the RM-1 district, the overlay allows for Suite Hotels and Bed and Breakfast Inns for existing structures in the area.  Additionally, the overlay regulations allow stand-alone residential offices within existing structures within the boundaries.

In 2013, the City Code was amended to prohibit hotels in the RM-2 and RM-3 areas of the West Avenue corridor.  However, Sec 142-845 of the City Code was not amended, and Suite Hotels and Bed and Breakfast Inns remained as allowable uses in existing buildings in all districts within the West Avenue Bay Front Overlay.

Recently, residents within the West Avenue Bay Front Overlay area have expressed concerns with the conversions of existing apartment buildings into Suite Hotels, particularly in light of the prohibition on hotels adopted in 2013.  Most of these concerns center on the possible abuses of the allowable accessory uses and the volume of guests when the suite hotels are used as ‘hostels,’ which the residents find to be incompatible with the low scale residential nature of the West Avenue Corridor. 

The following is the current ordinance text regarding Suite Hotels and Bed & Breakfast Inns within the West Avenue Bay Front Overlay:

Sec. 142-845. - Suites Hotel and Bed and Breakfast Inn Overlay Area.

1. The Suites Hotel and Bed and Breakfast Inn Overlay Area is designed to accommodate the adaptive reuse of existing single-family and multi-family residential structures as of (the effective date of this ordinance) to allow for lodging and guest amenities as main permitted uses.

1. Suites hotels and bed breakfast inns in the Overlay Area shall not be permitted to have dance halls, entertainment establishments, neighborhood impact establishments, outdoor entertainment establishments or open air entertainment establishments.

2. The building identification sign for a suites hotel or bed and breakfast inn shall be the same as allowed for an apartment building in the underlying zoning district in which it is located.

3. The building(s) shall have central air conditioning or flush-mounted wall units; however no air conditioning equipment may face a street or the Bay.

4. The maximum amount of time that any person other than the owner may stay in a suites hotel or bed and breakfast inn during a one-year period shall not exceed six months.

    

1. Suites hotels are permitted in existing multi-family structures and in single-family structures, including those that have been combined with adjacent multi-family or single-family structures through unity of title, subject to the following conditions:

1. Suites hotels may have full cooking facilities in units with a minimum of 400 square feet.

2. The building shall be maintained and operated as a hotel, with a registration desk and a lobby.

3. Should the facility convert from a suites hotel to a multifamily/single-family residential building, the minimum average unit size and all other zoning requirements for the underlying district shall be met.

4. Suites hotels located in the subject district may have accessory uses based upon the below criteria:

1. A dining room operated solely for registered hotel guests and their visitors, located inside the building, with no exterior signs, entrances or exits except as required by the South Florida Building Code.
2. Other accessory uses customarily associated with the operation of an apartment building, as referenced in subsection 142-902(2), for the use of registered hotel guests and their visitors only.

Also for clarification, the following are the current definitions of ‘hotel’, ‘hotel unit’, ‘dining room’, and ‘restaurant’ from the city code, section 114.1:

Hotel means a building occupied or intended to be occupied by transient residents, with all residents occupying hotel units and where ingress or egress may or may not be through a common lobby or office that is supervised by a person in charge at all times

Hotel unit means a room, or group of rooms, with ingress or egress which may or may not be through a common lobby, intended for rental to transients on a day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month basis, not intended for use or used as a permanent dwelling and without cooking facilities. (This term includes a suite hotel unit, see section 142-1105.)

Dining room, accessory means a portion of a building devoted exclusively to the serving of food and refreshment for consumption on the premises by occupants.

Restaurant means a commercial establishment where refreshments or meals may be purchased by the public and which conducts the business of serving of food to be consumed on or off the premises.

Currently, the City Code does not have a definition for ‘hostel’ and therefore for zoning purposes they are treated as a hotel, or a suite hotel when the unit contains a kitchen. The main difference between a hotel use and a hostel use is that a ‘hotel’ consists of booking the entire room while a ‘hostel’ typically means booking a bed space in a room occupied by other people who have done the same. 

In order to provide clarity, a definition for ‘hostel’ has been drafted, and is within the text of the proposed ordinance. To be considered a hostel, the property must provide short-term, shared (dormitory-style) accommodation for individual travelers, though many hostels also provide private rooms. The word "dormitory" refers to a room where travelers independently book individual beds in a shared room as opposed to booking entire rooms like in a hotel or guesthouse.

Pursuant to the direction of the Land Use Committee, the attached ordinance amends parts of the West Avenue Bay Front Overlay section of the city code and the definitions section of the code.  The following is a summary of the proposed legislation:

1. Creating a definition for ‘hostel’;
2. Make hostels a prohibited use in the West Avenue Bay Front overlay;
3. Establishing maximum occupancies in hostel and suite hotel rooms based on the square footage of a unit;
4. Tightening up the provisions for allowable ‘dining rooms’ in the West Avenue Bay Front overlay, in order to ensure they do not operate as commercial restaurants.
5. Further clarifying the distinction between a ‘restaurant’ and a ‘dining room’, by revising the definition of ‘restaurant’ in the definition section of the City Code.

PLANNING BOARD REVIEW

On April 25, 2017, the Planning Board transmitted the proposed Land Development Amendment to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation. The Planning Board also recommended the following modification to the proposed definition of hostel, under Sec. 114-1 of the City Code: with the recommendations listed below:   

1. That the occupancy limitations shall be removed from the definition of “hostel” as follows:

    

   Sec. 114-1. Definitions

    

Hostel means a building occupied or intended to be occupied by transient residents, where ingress or egress may or may not be through a common lobby or office that is supervised by a person in charge at all times.  A hostel provides communal or dormitory-style accommodations where transient residents can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed (as opposed to renting an entire unit, as in a hotel or suite hotel), and share a bathroom, lounge, and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available.  The transient resident occupancy of a hostel shall not exceed the following limits per individual unit:

1. For units between 300 and 335 square feet, occupancy shall be limited to four (4) persons.

    

2. For units between 336 and 485 square feet, occupancy shall be limited to six (6) persons.

    

3. For units larger than 486 square feet, occupancy shall be limited to eight (8) persons. No hostel unit may be occupied by more than eight (8) persons.

The Planning Board also recommended that the City determine separately in which zoning districts hostels should be allowed and that occupancy limits be applied within those districts. 

SUMMARY

The subject ordinance was approved at First Reading on May 17, 2017, as originally drafted with the occupant limits included in the definition of ‘Hostel’. Pursuant to the direction of the City Commission on May 17, 2017, the Administration has evaluated zoning districts where hostels would be most appropriate, and where occupant limits may be appropriate. In this regard, since only a definition of ‘hostel’ is being created, the Administration is recommending that the attached draft ordinance, which identifies specific zoning districts for hostels, be referred to the Land Use and Development Committee and the Planning Board.

The Administration recommends that:

1. The City Commission adopt the Ordinance; and

2. The attached DRAFT Ordinance pertaining to hostel locations be referred to the Land Use and Development Committee and Planning Board for action.