BACKGROUND
On March 1, 2017, at the request of Commissioner Michael Grieco, the City Commission referred a discussion item to the Land Use and Development Committee to add "office space use" to the Washington Avenue incentives (Item C4H).
On April 19, 2017, the Land Use Committee discussed the item and recommended that the City Commission refer an Ordinance to the Planning Board. On May 17, 2017, the City Commission referred the Ordinance to the Planning Board for consideration and recommendation (Item C4 B).
PLANNING ANALYSIS
A proposal has been put forward by a property owner on Washington Avenue to encourage the development of office uses along Washington Avenue. This would provide activation during daytime hours and provide Miami Beach residents with access to jobs without have to commute to the mainland.
The attached draft ordinance would amend Chapter 130 of the City Code, pertaining to the parking requirements for Parking District No. 7, which covers Washington Avenue from 6th Street to Lincoln Road. Currently, in Parking District 7 offices have a minimum parking requirement of “One space per 500 square feet of floor area.” Parking District 7 was established as part of the Washington Avenue Zoning Incentives that were adopted on October 24, 2015. The original incentives reduced the parking requirement for office uses somewhat from the previous requirement of “1 space per 400 square feet of floor area; however, medical offices and clinics or offices located on the ground floor shall provide 1 space per 300 square feet.”
As recommended by the Land Use and Development Committee, the draft ordinance that was transmitted to the Planning Board contained two separate options for further incentivizing office uses in Parking District No. 7, as follows:
OPTION A: Office: No parking requirement.
OPTION B: Office: No parking requirement provided a facility with publicly accessible parking spaces is located within 500 feet.
A map indicating the current boundaries of Parking District 7, the location of public off-street parking, and 500 foot buffers around those public parking locations is attached. In analyzing the locations of public parking, most of the properties within Parking District 7 are located within 500 feet of a publically accessible off-street parking location. The exception to this is the Feinberg Fisher K-8 Center and the properties in close proximity of Española Way.
PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
On June 27, 2017, the Planning Board discussed options ‘A’ and ‘B’ above, recommended option ‘A’ as the preferred alternative and transmitted the proposed Ordinance Amendment pursuant to option ‘A’ above to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation.
SUMMARY/UPDATE
The City Commission approved the subject Ordinance at First Reading on July 26, 2017, pursuant to option ‘B’ above. The revised ordinance for Second Reading has been updated to reflect option ‘B’. Based on the attached map showing most of the properties within Parking District 7 are located within 500 feet of an off-street parking location, the Administration had previously recommended option ‘A’, noted above.